Beauvillage Chronicles: Episode 2:Tofu Vet Station
by HarpieKing07
Summary: As Beauvillage s annual Pet convention is nearing, several pets are becoming sick. Without a vet in town, the neighbours have turned to the Tofus for help. Lola,Billy and Lily however are facing a completly different problem.
1. Chapter 1

**Beauillage Chronicles**

**Episode 2: Tofu Vet Station**

**Chapter 1**

Lola Tofu sighed yet another time today. Seating herself besides her best friend Lily, she was relieved that it was almost time for her next lession. Roughly two weeks after the Beauvillage´s drug incident Lola still found herself as the target of questioning by her classmates. The events of the case, though altered by Wiseman and the mayor earned them quite a reputation among their peers. Indeed the arrest of Flint, Leftside and Mortimer became public knowledge and the people involved in it ended up as heroes of Beauvillage. As a result Lola, her brother, her closest friends and her boyfriend ended up being constantly questioned and pestered for information. Chichi decided at once that they should stick to the official story to avoid another set of rumors. So they did and ended up explaining the whole thing over and over. To their parents and Buba (who had taken the whole thing much better than any of them expected), to their teachers – who were just as curious about the case, and finally their classmates, who seemed to want to know every little detail.

After the first few days everything was explained and the people were talking among themselfs. In no time at all detective Wiseman and Michael Miles became the toast of the town. Wiseman, who to the extreme surprise of just about everyone was relocated to Beauvillage by request of the mayor, who seemed to have taken a liking to him. He was appointed the position of Beauvillage´s head detective and awarded a small flat in the main street, close to the mayor´s office.

Word also spread, that Michael Miles had also decided to remain in Beauvillage. Indeed not long after Mom, Pop and Buba had returned from the National Ecology Meeting they had attended they were introduced to Miles. Surprisedly both the Tofus _and_ the Hubbubs have taken a liking to Miles (something that surprised even Miles himself) and though no one in Beauvillage knows where Miles lives, it became common knowledge that he´s the frequent houseguest at the Tofu house when he´s in town.

The teens of Beauvillage had also taken a lot of interest in Beauvillage´s mystery man. Lola, April and Lily were questioned many times by the girls and Billy, Chichi and Phil by the boys. It was getting a bit annoying, really. With the exception of Chichi neither of them knew Miles all that well, so they didn´t have much to tell and Chichi was being vague about what he said.

Lola supposed, that Miles was fine enough. He was becoming fast friends with everyone in the gang as they spent most of the previous week together, either in the Tofu house, streets of Beauvillage or in the Hidehole. She had to admit that the Hidehole was extraordinary and understood Chichi´s and Miles´ insistance, that it should remain a secret. While Chichi took most of the first week repairing the damage Miles´ van sustained in the car chase, Miles called in one of his contacts, borrowed a car and brought in a lot of equipment into the Hidehole, making it more like a house than anything else. Its certainly a good place to run to, when days get a bit too annoying.

"_Like this one for instance._"thought Lola with yet another sigh as most of the class were seating themselfs at their respective desks.

"What did they want to know thistime?"asked Lily gesturing to a gang of girls with whom Lola spoke for almost the entire break.

"They asked, when will Miles be back in Beauvillage."

Lily sighed as well. As soon as Chichi repaired the blue van, Miles had taken a couple of short rounds across the country. But three days earlier when they were hanging out, he recieved a call from one of his contacts and set off into Middletown immediatly telling them, he will be back within a few days.

"I hope he gets back soon. I mean its been three days."she said.

"Who knows what he´s doing there."said Lola in a low voice.

"Most likely – _Business_."giggled Lily. She has gotten a bit fond of Miles´ favourite words or expressions.

"Or _Greed_."said Lola giggling as well. She had to admit, that once you understood them they are a bit contagious. Miles seemed to have a special naming for just about anything.

"Anyway at least Mary and the other girls had something better to talk about."said Lily pointing to another group of their classmates. Lola looked at her questioningly.

"We were discussing the Pet convention."explained Lily and Lola nodded.

Each year Beauvillage hosts a number of occasions and contests most of which are organized by the mayor. One of them – the annual Pet convention was fast approaching. And just like last year, Mom, Pop and Buba are involved in planning and executing the convention. The event itself is a mix of a party, a show and a contest where the owners of the best pets would be awarded prizes. Since the Tofus are helping with the organization of the event, Cracker, Suzie and Curly won´t compete but Lola knew that Billy had entered with his pigeon Rocky. Also a number of their classmates including Cherie were in the contest too. Indeed she has been strutting for over a week now, proclaiming that her cat – Prince is going to win the contest. Lola herself has been involved in organizing the event as well.

The girls´ thoughts were interupted by the arrival of their homeroom teacher Mr Philips, who sat down behind his desk and called for the class to be silent.

"Now, I have a few news for all of you."he said and the class looked from one to the other.

"The good news is, that you´ll be getting a free week starting Monday."

The news was met with cheers of happiness from every student in the class.

"_But _you will be expected to use this free week for something."

The class´ happiness had abruptly ended. Everyone looked sadly at Mr Philips who pretended not to notice and went on.

"Since you have began the grade 3 of Beauvillage High and you have only one year to go on, it´s about time you start thinking of the future. It´s time to start thinking about what you will do when you finish the school. It´s time to make your career choices."

The class once again looked from one to the other. Rarely anyone in class had ever thought about the profession they would choose after leaving school.

"It works like this. I want you to first discuss this with your parents, tommorow – that is friday, you will give me these filled out forms..."he gestured to the papers in his hand.

"... and inform me of the profession you´d like to do. The following week you will be on practice in those professions. And during the end of the week I will interview all of you seperately to help you decide which schools or institutions you will have to attend to reach your desired profession."

The class was completly silent. Mr Philips sighed, as he read the looks on his pupil´s faces. They told him exactly what he expected.

"I understand that most of you have not given a thought on what you might do in your working life. That is why I will be avalable to any of you should you feel the need to discuss this. As only 3rd graders have the following week off I will be here ´till 5 pm eachday. Any of you is welcome to visit me at any given time should you have any doubts about professions."

...

The news have brought the entire class into intense discussions. Many were looking at the forms that Mr Philips handed them as the students were still sitting in their classroom dispite the fact, that they were free to go home.

"I´ve no idea as to what to do."said Steve, who was clearly as baffled as most of his classmates.

"I´ve always enjoyed art. Especially paintings. I would like to paint."

Nina´s revelation brought the students to even more thinking.

"You think that we should try to choose our future professions based on our hobbies?"asked Joey.

"Why not? I mean why not have a profession based on something we _like_ to do?"said Mary.

A silence reigned for a while. Most were racking their brains trying to figure out how to turn their hobbies into a profession.

"I don´t know... what about our parents? D´you think they´d agree?"asked Zoe and many held their breaths.

"I know my wouldn´t. I mean, my father would like me to succeed him as head of his firm."said Jack.

Most in class knew, that Jack´s father was the head of a construction firm in Beauvillage. Most of the buildings in the town were constructed by them. He also didn´t take very kindly to the fact that the Tofus had built their house without any assistance. Without the assistance of _his_ firm to be exact. And though Jack was the exact opposite of his father, he still felt compelled to carry on the family business.

"You´d do it?"asked Julia – his girlfriend in complete surprise.

"Why not. I mean I´m not wild about the idea, but I don´t know anything else that I could do instead of it. And when I think about it, it may not be so bad."

His reply got Billy thinking. For years Titus had tried to get his son´s interest in the alarm business. He´d always help his father in demonstrations or advertisements but to be perfectly honest, he just couldn´t find himself interested in _anything_ that got to do with alarms. Over the years however, Titus had made it _very_ obvious that he wants his son to work with him in his profession and eventually replace him. He was so enthusiastic over the idea, that Billy didn´t have the heart to tell his father the truth – he had absolutely no interest in being an alarm salesman or mechanic. Still, Billy himself didn´t see any other alternative. Nothing that would´ve made a decent a career choice.

"Maybe I could give it a chance. Who knows, maybe it´ll work out."he said in a thoughtfull way.

Both Lily and Lola were surprised by this.

"You´d really go along with it?"asked Lily completly bewildered. She knew of her friend´s reservations for the job.

"Well. I can at least _try_ and see what comes out of that."he said and Lily nodded in understanding.

"What about you Lily? What are you going to do?"asked Nina and Lily looked thoughtfull.

"I´m not exactly sure. I mean I´m kinda interested in both of my parent´s work. I´m not sure what to choose."

It was true. Lily´s mother was an archeologist and her father a historian. Lily had close to both of those subjects but not enough to decide which to persue.

"I have my occupation all figured out. I´m going to become a _model_. I´m more than enough pretty for it." Said Cherie.

She started to make poses and threw looks that drew attention from most boys of the class and had succeeded to draw all the attention to herself. Among all of this Lily and Billy noticed, that Lola was sitting on her chair with a haunted look on her face.

"Lola?What´s wrong?"asked Lily who got to her first with Billy close at hand.

"Lola? What are you thinking about, my love?"asked Billy equally concerned as he sat down next to his beloved girl.

Lola locked eyes with them.

"_What _am I going to choose?"

Billy took her hand.

"Lola you have time to think this over. Just go over what you would like to do."he said in a soothing voice but Lola fixed him with a serious look.

"And _what_ d´you think my parents would _advise_ me to do?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lola, Billy and Lily were walking to the Tofu house in silence. None of them was quite sure about the situation that rose up. Since Mr Philips had said, that he informed the parents of the 3rd grade students of the situation none of them had any possible way of keeping this a secret. Both Lola and Billy were full aware of the conversations that awaited them with their parents. And what´s worse was that it was not going to be very private. Not _today_ in any case. Today is the anniversary of the Tofu-Hubbub truce. And like during the previous ones, both families plus friends dined in the Tofu´s yard. Phil, April and Lily were also invited to join in, though Phil had excused himself a day ago saying that he´s helping his parents paint their house for most of the week. Lily had accepted the invitation and April did so as well owing to the fact that her parents are in the emergency ward today, so she´s also staying overnight (though she did not work up the courage to ask Mom to allow her to bunk with Chichi in his room).

As the trio moved along their street a blue van sped on the road past them in high speed, sending the girls´ hair flying.

"That was Miles. He´s back."exclaimed Lily happily.

"_Why_ must he drive trough Beauvillage so fast. It´s a wonder that no one gets hurt."said Lola while placing a hand on her head.

She is never very aprooving of Miles´ insane way of driving. Indeed she thinks it highly unresponsible to go about the town in such speed.

As they finally got to the Tofu household the van was already parked in front of the Tofu household.

"Guess this means, that Miles will dine with us today."said Billy with a smile.

"Maybe he´ll keep the conversations away from this career choice."said Lola hopefully.

She really wasn´t looking forward to discussing her future job with her parents for obvious reasons.

"Unlikely. You know how your parents are. But it wouldn´t hurt to ask about _his_ thoughts on the subject."

Lily´s statement left the two in complete confusion.

"What help d´you think Miles could be?"asked Lola just as confused as Billy was.

"Well, Miles had to live on his own since he turned 18. I mean, he had to deal with real working life as well. And he is quite skillfull in it. I don´t think that any of his advice would be _that_ bad."

As the trio moved towards the door they mulled over Lily´s reasoning. Figuring that it was pointless to think about the matter any more than neccesary Lola opened the front door and the trio entered the house.

All three stood in place and looked at the scene in front of them. The kitchen now hosted over half a dozen animals of nearly all kind were lying on the floor or in baskets with Mom and Buba moving from one to the other.

"What is going on in here?"asked Lola drawing their attention.

"Emergency chipmunks. Some of the neighbours brought in their pets. Some sickness has these poor things completly down."said Mom in a distracted voice checking over a small brown puppy.

"Oh my. Poor little thing."said Lily bending over a small basket which held a white cat, curled up into a ball.

As she strocked its fur, the kitty raised its head weakly and licked her hand.

"And what´s worse, this has happened one week before the Pet convention."said Buba sadly, bending over a hedgehog.

"When did all this happen?"asked Billy also bending over another one of the sick pets.

"This morning. The neighbours started to bring them one after another."answered Mom.

"Some epidemic must be brewing. Wait a minute? Where are _our_ animals?"asked Lola worriedly.

"Oh they´re in the yard, Lola. They are completly fine. But all the same, they will stay there until we figure out what´s wrong with these poor creatures."

Buba´s answer calmed Lola a bit. Though she would sometimes blow off at them, Lola cared deeply about their wild threesome.

"At times like this, I wish that Beauvillage had a vet station."said Billy in a low voice.

It was common knowledge that eventhough Beauvillage hosted quite a number of animals, the town lacked a vet. Not having anyone around who has the knowledge to help the pets, the people are ussualy forced to travel to Megacity. However over three years ago, word spread that Mom and Buba are able to heal the animals. Though it was never anything serious, the Beauvillage´s pet owners often came to the Tofus asking for help, rather than travel to Megacity. The fact made Billy wonder what would happen if any of the pets sustained some serious injury or illness. He deeply doubted that they would survive the one hour trip to Megacity. Though he tried to keep it a secret from his parents until recently, eversince he was a small boy he was always very fond of animals. Seeing them sick and unwell always gave him a nasty feeling of despair and a strong urge to help somehow.

"Well it doesn´t. Good thing that you´re around Mrs Tofu."said Lily.

"Thank you, little Lotus."said Mom in appretiation as she got up and got to the stove.

"Would you mind helping up a bit until some of this herb recipe is done?"

...

After the pets were taken care of and placed into the makeshift baskets and accomodations that Chichi and Pop constructed at top speed with the material furnished by Miles, the Tofus, Hubbubs, Lily, April and Miles sat down behind a big table set in the yard and started to eat and discuss the event.

"Something like this _has_ to happen precicely on the day of our celebration."lamented Beth.

She has been looking forward to the occasion for about a week.

"What d´you suppose could be the cause of this little epidemic?"asked Billy, who was seated by Lola´s side holding her hand under the table.

"The poor little ones have highly upset stomaches. We don´t know what may be the cause of it, but the herb recipe should make them better."explained Buba.

The teens breathed sighs of relief. The sun was still up and it was still fairly warm. The big table was large enough for all eleven of them and was full of food from both Mom´s and Beth´s kitchen – Mom´s Daisyflower surprise and Beth´s Soy-Tofu burgers. Everyone was digging in hungirly.

"And they should be comfortable in those baskets. A very nice job Jacob and Chichi have done in making them."said Beth nodding to Pop and Chichi, who was sitting at the far side of the table with Miles to his left and April to his right.

"Thanks Mrs Hubbub."said Chichi with a smile.

"Its Beth, Chichi. I´ve told you you can just call us by our names."Beth corrected and Titus also nodded.

"I´m kinda suprised, that you were able to make so much in just one hour."said Miles in thought.

"Yup. You´re amazing, Chichi honey-bun."said April.

Many at the table had to repress the urges to snort in laughter. All of them were already accustumized to April´s favourite pet-name, except Chichi himself, who as everyone expected sighed and rolled his eyes.

"_When_ are you going to _stop_ calling me that?"he asked looking at her.

April giggled and stuck out her toungue looking back at him.

"Never."she sing-songed.

Most at the table could no longer hide it and let out small chuckles as Chichi goaned and shook his head.

"_She says that everytime._"he thought.

Lola, Billy and Lily who sat beside eachother watched the younger pair with amusement.

"What d´you think? When will April be successfull with Chichi?"asked Billy in a low voice while Chichi and April traded a few more words, leaving April in a fit of giggles and Chichi stammering while blushing heavily.

"Who knows when our genius will figure out, that the girl really loves him."said Lola with a small sigh.

Both she and April and sometimes even Lily were trying for months to drop subtle hints for him to catch on. However it seemed that none got trough to her beloved brother´s smart head. Lily on the other hand saw the situation more optimistically.

"Judging by the blushing I´d say that we´re on the right track. It may not be long now."

"So you three are plaing matchmaker?"asked Miles, who was sitting by Lily´s right just as April and Chichi turned their conversation to something else as though nothing had happened.

"Not at all. We´re just trying to help April. Don´t you think they´d be cute together?"

Lily´s question chaught Miles off guard. He looked confusedly at her, then at the young pair at his right who were in a spirited discussion and payed no attention to any of them. Miles then turned to Lily in complete surprise.

"You mean... April... and Chichi?"he asked as though he couldn´t believe it.

Lily giggled as Billy and Lola continued to eat their food, but still kept their attention to the conversation.

"Miles. Don´t tell me you haven´t noticed."

Miles looked at them once more and shook his head, sending Lily into a fit of giggles.

"You´re as bad as Chichi. You haven´t noticed the looks she´s giving him or the hints and compliments?"

"Nope."

Lily sighed with a smile.

"Well everyone else apart from you two knows about it for ages. Even Phil does and that´s saying something."

She recalled the conversation she had with Phil about it. Though he said, that he is supportive of the pair, he expressed his belief that his two best friends will get together on their own. They just need time.

"How should I know? I never had any other relationship than _business_. And that´s not a bad one. It pays off."he said with a number of gestures getting Lily to laugh again as everyone helped themselfs to Beth´s burgers.

Miles took a bite but took on a wierd thoughtfull look.

"No offence Beth, but I think there is something missing in there."he said and started to search trough his pocket as everyone looked in bewilderment.

"AHA! Here it is."he exclaimed as he took out a small jar that held what seemed to be a bright red powder.

"Uh-oh. Is that what I think it is?"asked Chichi eyeing the jar as Miles opened it.

Before any of them got a chance to ask Cracker crowed and jumped on the table and went for the jar. Miles smirked as Cracker put his head into it and took a sample of the red powder. Suddenly with a loud crow he flew from the table and started to jump around practicly spitting out fire as he made for the pond and jumped into the water.

"Cracker! What was that?"exclaimed Buba in worry, but Miles and Chichi were laughing their heads off.

"Serves you right, Cracker. That was Roger´s hellfire chilli pepper."said Chichi to the poor bird as it was slowly getting out of the pond.

Everyone else laughed too.

"See Cracker? That´s what you get for beeing greedy."chastized Buba.

"Wait a minute. What´s wrong with being greedy?"asked Miles in a hurt voice almost in tears.

The group laughed again.

"So you think the burgers need spicing up, Miles?"asked Beth clearly wanting to change the subject.

"Yup. You can try some as well."he said as he added a conciderable ammount of the powdered pepper on top of his burger and passed the jar to Chichi.

"Go ahead but be carefull. This stuff is not to be underestimated."

Everyone noticed that Chichi only added a small ammount of the powder before throwing the jar to Billy. Billy added a bigger ammount, and passed it to his father who did the same before passing it to Pop. The female population looked at the boys as each took a bite from the burgers. It didn´t seem to affect Miles at all and Chichi winced a bit but otherwise looked fine. But Pop´s, Titus´ and Billy´s eyes flew open and each of them let out a strangled scream before franticly reaching for the glasses and gulped down as much as they possibly could.

"Damn! What hot pepper."said Titus gasping for air.

"You can say that again."said Pop equally gasping as Mom was pouring him another glass.

"Now I know why you call it _hellfire_ chilli pepper. Where did you get that stuff anyway?"asked Billy while Lola was mimicking Mom, pouring a glass before passing it to her boyfriend.

"Well as I was completing the business in Middletown – oh and how good _business_ it was. Lots and lots of _greed_."said Miles along with a few gestures before continuing.

"Anyway I was returning to Beauvillage, I stopped by at Roger´s parents´garden. They were quite nice to me eversince me and Roger were kids and I do visit from time to time. His father grows the best peppers in the world."

"Certainly the hottest."said Pop and Titus nodded.

"Middletown, huh? Brings back memories."said Mom in fond memory.

"Isn´t that where you used to live before coming to Beauvillage?"asked Beth in surprise.

"Yup. Its also the place where we met and got married."explained Pop while giving Mom a loving look.

Lily and April sighed.

"How _romantic_."said Lily and April nodded while throwing a lovesick look to Chichi who ate his burger and didn´t notice.

"I´ll absolutely want to hear this story sometime."said Lily to Lola as Mom and Pop carried on telling the story to Titus, Beth and Miles who looked very interested.

"I was also working in the EPO – Enviroment Protection Organization, the nation´s leading authority on protecting our enviroment. But that was before I got pregnant with Lola. It was my first and only job."said Mom in reminiscence.

Suddenly the adults got a dreamy look over their faces and turned to their children.

"_Uh-oh. And here we go_."thought Billy and Lola simultaniuosly.

"You know, Mr Philips called us today."started Beth.

The statement left Lola and Billy in trepidation, while Chichi and April looked at each other in confusion.

"Your homeroom teacher? What did you do, Lola?"asked Chichi quietly trying to puzzle it out.

"They didn´t do anything Chichi. Mr Philips was just informing us that they will be having a free week starting Monday."explained Buba.

"Wow. Free week? I envy you guys."said April but was even more confused by the looks she recieved from Lola and Lily.

"They are supposed to choose a career they will follow and go into practice during that week, April."explained Mom.

Chichi and April once again looked at eachother now understanding the situation. Chichi instantly flashed Lola a look of sympathy, which she understood and nodded back to him.

"The time has come my son."started Titus, placing a hand on Billy´s shoulder.

"You´ll be working with me. Don´t worry I´ll show you all there is to know about the alarm business."he said jovially completly oblivious to the pained look on his son´s face.

"And we have already contacted the EPO, precious dandylion. Amyas said that you can come work with him."said Pop.

"Who?"asked Lily in puzzlement.

"Our older cousin about Miles´ age. He works in EPO for a while now."explained Chichi.

Lola cringed. Amyas was just as ecologicaly situated like her parents. If not even more.

"_This is a catastrophe!_"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was a nice sunny morning in Beauvillage and the main street was once again crowded. Detective Frederick Wiseman was strolling around the small marketplace picking up groceries here and there. He had to admit to himself, that he was getting used to the life in a small town. It was way different than Megacity, that´s for sure. Far from his detective collagues and most importantly captain Shark, who would point out any flaws whenever he could. He was gratefull, that the mayor had recognized his great abilities and wanted him to remain here to lead the local police. Though the events from nearly two weeks ago did not bode well with him at all. He got the scolding of a lifetime from the captain and what was worse, Strongdome along with his small gang of collaborates – young Chichi Tofu and Michael Miles got all the praise from him. At least the Beauvillage´s people knew the official version and praised _his_ efforts as well. He was now being celebrated, as he should´ve been in Megacity. He was even awarded a small flat near the mayor´s office. The downside was, that he would have to take care of himself now and cooking was no easy task. But he was sure he would manage. Afterall he _is_ a member of the famous Wiseman family. And he was certain that Beauvillage would be the place, where he could bolster his career so much, that he would be able to overcome the reputation of his father and grandfather and even his uncle who was now in line to replace the current head of law enforcement in the country.

As he was thinking about this he passed two women who were shopping for grosseries too.

"We are all extremly worried. I mean Bridgess had barely eaten a thing since yesterday. She´s in her den all day and keeps whining."said Mrs Pebble.

"Our puppy Max was just the same. We didn´t know what to do. But then I remembered that the Tofus had experiences with animals. So I brought him there."

Upon Mrs Downy´s comment Wiseman´s head snapped to the direction of the two women, now listening carefully.

"Really Marion. The _Tofus_."said Mrs Pebble skepticly.

"That´s what my husband said too. But listen. There´s no vet in Beauvillage and they are really not so bad. I explained the situation to Violet Tofu and she said, that they will do all they can to help. That they can´t ignore an innocent little creature in need."

Mrs Pebble looked at her questioningly.

"She asked nothing in return?"

Mrs Downy shook her head.

"Despite their eco-obsession, they´re really good people. We should be gratefull that they are around always willing to help. Really Abby, go to them with Bridgess. They´ll help."

As Mrs Pebble was mulling it over, Wiseman was thinking hard as well.

"Your pet too?"asked the saleswoman who also overheared the conversation.

The two women nodded.

"It must be some kind of epidemic. Since yesterday I´ve heared at least dozen people saying that their pets are sick."

Wiseman´s interest was rapidly growing.

"_Seems like a case is brewing right under my nose._"he thought as he listened to the women exchange some of the names of the people, who claimed to have sick pets.

"And all this is happening a week before the Pet convention. And the kids were sure our Max would win."said Mrs Downy sadly.

Wiseman´s suspitions only grew.

"_Sick pets? Before the pet contest? The Tofus?_"he thought trying to piece it all together.

"_I´ll look into it. And if the Tofus are responsible, I will make sure they are thrown into jail._ Till they **ROT**!"he exclaimed the last part out loud, pumping his fist into the air, but completly forgeting the grosseries he was holding. The three women looked at him strangely as the grosseries fell loudly to the floor.

...

At the Tofu household everyone was just finishing their breakfast. Lola however ate very little but her parents barely noticed. Since yesterday they have been on and on about the EPO. All of them learnt, that both Mom and Pop worked there. Now Amyas too. The kids were however astounded to learn, that the EPO was co-founded by their grandmother Iris Tofu almost 30 years back. She still does some work for them on occasion.

Lola, Chichi, April and Miles were just finishing up and picking up their stuff.

"We´re so proud of you Lola, I mean its family tradition."Mom told her for what seemed like the thousandth time already.

"You´ll see, you´ll like the work."said Pop kindly.

Buba looked at Lola, then scrowled at Mom and Pop. It seemed to her like yet another one of those times when they put their own wishes ahead of Lola´s and Chichi´s. But before she could say anything to Lola, the young group headed out the door.

"Jeez. I thought they´d _never_ shut up about it."growled Lola as they exited the house.

"They don´t mean anything bad by it, Lola."said April and Lola glared at her.

"They could give her a break though."said Chichi once again completly on his sister´s side.

"Well they seem to be very dedicated to the idea. And it _is_ a family tradition I guess."pondered Miles with a shrug.

The foursome were at the gate now and Miles was moving towards his van.

"Anyway. _Business_ calls. I should be back when you come home from school."

With that he jumped into his van and sped from the place in top speed, taking a sharp turn at the end of the street. Chichi sighed.

"Looks like I will have to work on the van again real soon. And I´ve only made last repairs two days ago."

Chichi and April were moving in the direction of their school, but as they turned they saw that Lola was remaining at the gate.

"Billy is coming for you again?"asked April and Lola nodded.

"In that case, I´ll see you after school as well. My Mom talked with your parents before you woke up. I´ll be staying over tonight too."

Lola sighed once again. April would be bunking with her once again. Not that she minded it very much, but it would be relaxing to have some privacy especially in the light of the events. April waved to her and started to walk again. Chichi however stood in place and as though he made up his mind about something, he walked slowly back to Lola.

"Look I...I don´t know what to say, sis. I know that you´re not happy with that EPO practice thing."he started and Lola smiled faintly at her brother´s attempts to cheer her up.

"Well, of course I´m not. But I don´t have anything else, so I suppose I should be gratefull I _do_ have something."

When she thought about it yesterday evening she figured, that she could give it a shot. She pondered about any other career and couldn´t see her do any profession she could think of. With parents like hers she _did_ have impressive insight into ecology and perhaps she would be able to help. So maybe there was something good, that would come from it. Mom and Pop were over the moon because of it. There seemed to be only one downside to it. One that Chichi knew already.

"There´s still Amyas to concider. I know he´s a nice guy and all, but seriously he can get even worse than Mom and Pop sometimes."he said and both of them pondered for a while.

They meet their cousin from time to time, but mostly when out of Beauvillage. Their older cousin is easy to get along with but is also very wayward. The excentric demonstrations their parents do sometimes are one of the practices he loves to employ as well.

"Good thing Uncle Alan doesn´t work there too."she said thinking that one wayward Tofu was more than enough.

Chichi chuckled, but looked over his shoulder. April was still waiting for him. Understanding the situation she kept some distance to give the siblings some room to talk privately.

"I guess what I meant to say is, that I have your back. If there´s y´know... anything you´d like to talk about or just need someone to listen, I´m here."

Lola smiled brightly this time. It was nice to know she had her little brother´s support in the very least. She reached out with her hand and ruffled his hair fondly.

"Thanks Chichi."

She looked over his shoulder at April who was still waiting for him.

"You´d better go now, or you´re going to be late, squirt."

Chichi chuckled again, stuck out his tongue at her playfully and turned in the direction of his school.

"Besides, your _girlfriend_ is waiting for you."she said slyly, not being able to resist this oppoturnity.

Chichi blushed slightly but sighed and shook his head.

"Don´t _you_ start too. She´s not my girlfriend."he said quietly.

"_Yet_."Lola thought to herself smugly as Chichi waved and dashed after April..

"_But one of these days, I´ll make sure he sees that the girl really loves him._"she swore to herself looking at the pair.

As Chichi chaught up, they slowed their pace and were now chatting as they disappeared behind the turn.

A second later Billy came up on his bike. One look at his face told Lola all she needed to know.

"Let me guess, you got the talk as well."she said sympatheticly after she kissed him.

"Yeah. Dad wouldn´t stop talking about it. He even brought the catalogue out. I swear I´ve seen more types of alarms, than most would believe to be possible."he said as he took the two helmets and passed one to Lola.

"Let´s just get to school. I´m sure everyone in class will be discussing it all day. We also have to hand the forms to Mr Philips."

Billy nodded and started the bike.

"Why do I feel, that we´re sealing our fates by doing it."he said as they rode off.

...

"Calm down, detective."said the mayor once again as Wiseman was pacing his office for several minutes now.

"So you say, that the Tofus are involved in this pet convention."he said once again as though his suspitions were confirmed.

"Well yes, they are co-organizing the event."

Wiseman took note of that and paced again in deep thought.

"Its supposed to be a contest too, right? What are the prizes?"he asked.

"Oh, just some trophies and pet food. Nothing too expensive."

Wiseman paced again.

"How do they want to profit out of this, then?"he mumbled more to himself than the mayor.

"Profit? The Tofus wanted no such thing. Mr Tofu said, that it gives a nice oppoturnity to celebrate and show Beauvillage´s pets."

Wiseman thought harder about it.

"Are any people from the other towns attending?"

The mayor shrugged.

"Perhaps a few, but our citizens are in the majority. In fact nearly all of Beauvillage will be there."

Wiseman wrote all this into his small notebook.

"Why are the people bringing the sick pets to them?"

The mayor sat down behind his desk and looked at the detective.

"Beauvillage has no veterinarian. We don´t have one ourselfs and no one from the other towns would accept the job here. Over three years ago, Violet Tofu had gained the reputation of being able to help. The fact that the nearest veterinarian station is located in Megacity and that Violet Tofu wants nothing for her help, the citizens ussualy ask her when a problem occurs."

Whatever the mayor said, it did nothing to ease Wiseman´s suspitions.

"Well, I will keep my eyes open. If I see any foul play, I will be forced to act."

The mayor nodded.

"Do as you will, detective."he said with a smile, and dismissed him.

Wiseman pieced his thoughts together as he left the office. He can´t do anything while there is no evidence, he knew that. But there was something he _could_ do.

He took out his cell phone from his coat and dialed the familiar number.

...

"Please Chichi. I don´t know, what to do otherwise."said one of the fifth grade girls as she was standing with Chichi, Phil and April infront of their classroom. Chichi sighed. After their lesson with Starchy he wanted to go outside and play basketball a little. But the younger girl headed them off before they got the chance. She explained that their family rabbit – Fluffy, had gone sick and not eaten anything for days. Hearing from her classmate, that their sick pet is being treated at the Tofus, she approached him pleading to treat Fluffy as well. And she was not the first one today. In fact a few of his classmates including Chloe, Emily and Oliver had asked him to do the same. This would mean, that more animal accomodations were needed. Not to mention more work for both Mom and Buba. Nevertheless...

"All right. Bring him over to our house after school and we´ll try to do what we can."

The girl´s face showed visible relief. She smiled brightly at him.

"Thank you. You Tofus are the best."she said, before kissing him on the cheek and running off leaving Chichi blushing and April jealous.

"Jeez, you´re getting really popular with this animal treatment."said Phil with a grin, elbowing him.

"Oh, come on, dude. Its starting to be a problem. I don´t know how many more pets will our new _vet station_ hold. The house is already half-full."he said as the trio was moving back into the classroom.

"Then you shouldn´t have taken her up on that offer."said April sternly.

"What was I supposed to do, April? It _is_ for a good cause and I can´t really ignore it."he explained but April crossed her arms huffed and walked away from them seating herself at her desk.

Chichi looked confusedly at Phil who knew _exactly_ what was eating April at the moment.

"Forget it, Chichi. Let´s sit down."

Another familiar trio was watching them as the two sat down and started to talk about something else. The Brainless wonders were completly fumming. Since morning they´ve seen the biohazard accepting people´s offers to heal their pets. They were still angry about the drug incident. Chichi, along with Michael Miles had pulled their leg, got them into a pointless chase and when the incident was over they were hardly even mentioned while Chichi and his friends got all the credit.

"Biotrash is the center of attention again."said Archie angirly.

"Tell me about it. First the incident and now this."growled Nick while glaring at Chichi who was preoccupied with his conversation.

"Beauvillage´s pets _are_ getting sick you know."said Tex quietly.

"Who cares about some stupid animals? The problem is, that he´s in the spotlight again and the people actually _like_ it."said Nick in pure rage.

Chichi had gained incredible popularity in his school thanks to that incident. The younger pupils are looking at him in awe, the teachers in approoval and their peers are hailing him like a hero. Not to mention the friendship he has with the dubious Michael Miles.

"_I_ should be the one getting all that fame. Not some ecological wierdo_._"he growled again and his two cohorts nodded.

There was something however, that he gained from the incident. An ally, a mentor and a secret position.

Suddenly he felt his cell phone vibrating. Looking at the display, he smirked.

"_Speak of the devil._"he thought as he picked up.

"Yes, sir?"he asked and a familiar older voice replied from the other side.

"Mick, I have something I will need your help with."came the voice of detective Wiseman.

"Its _Nick_, sir."he said with a sigh.

"Nevermind that now. Listen I need you to stop by my office after school. And bring your friends too. We have some work to do."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

After a dreadfully long lession with Mrs Morter, Lola and her classmates moved out to their schoolyard, which was situated behind the school buildings. Some of the boys and girls in class including Chris and Cherie wasted no time in lighting their cigarettes, while Steve and Mary kept a lookout for any signs of a teacher.

"Jeez, I thought the old hag would _never_ finish."said Chris while puffing on his cigarette.

Most of the classed nodded in agreement.

"Tell me about it, on and on like an old gramaphone."said Cherie.

"C´mon guys. She´s not _that_ bad."said Steve not noticing the incredulous looks he was getting.

"Moving on, I heared that you had a small dinner yesterday and one if its guests was Mr Miles, Lola."said Nina.

"Yup. We dined with the Hubbubs in our yard and he was there too."Lola answered, though Miles was the least of her worries right now.

"I can´t understand how you can look at it so casually, Lola."said Annie and most of the girls present nodded their heads fervently.

"Yeah. If _I_ had someone like that round my house for dinner I would freak out."said Gabriella, her comment once again meeting with agreement from most of the girl population.

Lola was about to reply, when she noticed a certain boy walking towards them.

"Ask Billy and see what he tells you."she giggled and he joined the group.

"Don´t even _mention_ yesterday. I´m still feeling the after-effects. I can´t understand how he and Chichi can eat that stuff."he said moving from side to side in obvious unease.

"You mean the hellfire chilli pepper?"asked Lily and as Billy nodded she and Lola went into a fit of giggles.

"You find it funny. But seriously, that stuff burns _twice_."he said wincing again.

"What d´you mean?"asked Joe eyeing his friend while the two girls giggled even more.

"It burns both when it goes _in_ and when it comes _out_."said Billy while scratching his head frowning.

The teens laughed and even Billy joined in though begrudgingly.

"I´ll have to bring some to school and will see what _you_ think."he said in mock-offence, turning away from the others with his arms folded.

"Aww... my poor baby."said Lola as she approached him, ruffling his hair and kissing him on the cheek.

He threw her a small glance and raised his eyebrow.

"Not gonna cut it, _dear_."

Lola giggled and walked infront of him. She raised his chin with her fingers and kissed him full on the lips.

"Better?"she asked slyly.

"Not yet..."he said while wrapping his arms around her.

"...but I think you´re on the right track."he finished before kissing her passionately.

Watching the exchange, some of their classmates laughed, Lily and Nina exchanged a "_How romantic_" look, Steve threw Cherie a longing look while she and Chris rolled their eyes in annoyance.

After a small while the two parted.

"Better now?"asked Lola.

"_Much_ better."chuckled Billy and the two turned to their classmates.

"But I still can´t understand it. Ok, with Miles I can imagine that he´s used to it and all, but _Chichi_?"he said shaking his head.

"Looks like your little bro is becoming quite the tough guy, isn´t he?"said Lily with a smile.

"After locking up the drug dealers in Megacity _and_ in Beauvillage, I´d imagine."said Mary nodding.

"I envy you Lola. Wish I had a bro like _that_."said Annie with a sigh, comparing to her pest of a younger brother currently attending the same class as Chichi.

"Believe _me_, Annie you don´t. You wouldn´t _believe_ all the trouble he can get into."she said and Lily nodded.

"But all the same, all the things he can do. Not everyone has a genius in the family, Lola."said Daphne and Billy nodded to both Lily and Lola.

"Yes, but he can be pretty immature just like any other kid brother. All the same I wouldn´t trade him for anything in the world."

Everyone smiled and nodded with the exception of Cherie and Chris who scoffed.

"The idiotic brat."said Chris under his breath.

"_Excuse me?_"growled Billy, who heared exactly what Chris had said.

"N..nothing."stammered Chris and Billy fixed him with a look.

He didn´t like anyone bad-mouthing either Lola _or_ Chichi. And Chris had learned a _long_ time ago, that Billy is not to be messed with.

"Anyway Lola. A few of us have a small problem, which only you Tofus can solve."said Gabriella and a few of the boys and girls nodded.

The trio looked at eachother already guessing what problem could it be.

"Some of our pets have been sick for two days now."started Mary.

"My guinea pig, Blackie hasn´t eaten anything since yesterday."explained Annie.

"Our dog, Freeda either."added Steve.

"My hamster, Xander is curled up in a ball and shaking since yesterday."said Daphne.

"Hah! My Prince is perfectly fine. I don´t know what could be wrong with _your_ pets."said Cherie with a shrug.

"Anyway Lola, we heared that your mother and grandmother are already treating several pets and we would like to ask if you could do the same for ours."finished Mary.

"You´ve got to be kidding. Why not take them to a vet?"exclaimed Chris.

"Beauvillage doesn´t have a vet. The nearest one is in Megacity."said Steve.

"And not everyone can afford that. Especially when we don´t know, what could be wrong with them in the first place."added Joe and many nodded in agreement.

"Will you, Lola? Will you ask your mom?"asked Daphne, her eyes showing slight desperation.

It didn´t take Lola long to decide.

"Sure. Just bring your pets to our house and we´ll try to help them."

Her reply was met with cheers and applauses.

"Though I´m not sure where we´ll put them all."Lola thought outloud.

"Don´t worry, Lola. I´m sure we´ll think of something."said Billy soothingly.

"And if _we_ don´t, Miles and Chichi definitely will."added Lily.

"By the way, don´t you think its odd, that most of Beauvillage´s pets have turned out sick at precicely the same time?"asked Nina thoughfully.

"Yeah. And a week before the pet convention."said Cherie suspiciously eyeing Lola.

"Strange set of circumstances, isn´t it?"

Chris also fixed Lola with a stare.

"What are you two implying? That the _Tofus _are the cause behind this?"asked Billy slightly annoyed.

Eversince he came to know them years back, he knew that everyone of the Tofus would way sooner help an animal, than do _anything_ to bring any harm to it. No matter what animal it was. He still remembered the eagerness to save the legendary beast of Beauvillage, even if it turned out to be a wild boar in the end, plus the animal seemed to turn pretty docile while under their care.

"We´re not implying anything, Billy. But the timing _is_ strange, no one can argue that. It looks as though someone has done this on purpose."said Cherie in a calming voice, not wanting to get on Billy´s bad side.

"So you think there could be some foul play at hand?"asked Mary.

"How about we ask detective Wiseman to investigate this?"suggested Chris and the trio froze.

"Yeah. I bet he could figure out, whatever is going on."said Annie in a dreamy daze.

Lola, Billy and Lily looked at eachother. Wiseman snooping around town was the last thing they would want. And it didn´t take a genius to figure out, where his first stop would be.

...

Mom was just returning home from Home-fix it with Curly, who she took out to get some excersize. She herself had two things to take care of there – bring her beloved husband his lunch and pick up some small tubes, which they could use to feed some of the smaller animals. The house was half-stocked with pets now. But she was sure, that her mother´s herb recipe would heal the poor little things.

As she neared her house, she heared a crack from a nearby tree. Suddenly a man fell off it, landing painfully on the pavement. She immediatly recodnized the figure dispite only seeing him once over a week ago at the town hall.

"Detective Wiseman. What are you doing here?"she asked in a friendly voice as the detective was picking himself off the ground.

"Mrs Tofu. I... you see... I ... was checking if the tree had any apples."he said pointing at the tree he fell from.

Mom laughed.

"But detective. Apple picking is two weeks overdue and that tree is an _oak_. It doesn´t hold apples."

Wiseman looked at her, then at the tree.

"One can never be too sure, Mrs Tofu."he said with a serious voice.

Violet laughed yet again.

"You´re funny, detective."

Wiseman scoffed at that.

"I´m not here for fun Mrs Tofu. I am here investigating a small suspition."

He reached into his side pocket for something not even noticing that Curly was starting to chew on the end of his coat.

"Can you tell me what this might mean?"he asked passing her a small paper which she read.

"I´m not very knowledgable in cars, detective. But why buy such an o-zone layer destruction machine in the first place?"she asked confusedly.

Wiseman fixed her with a small stare until she showed him the paper which turned out to be the advertisement for a luxurious new car, now sold for low prices. With a yelp he snatched the paper from her hand and started to search his pockets again.

"I didn´t mean _that_! I meant _this_!"he exclaimed while passing her a different paper.

Violet fixed her glasses as she tried reading the handwriting on the paper.

"I can´t very well make out the handwriting, detective. It looks like a cat wrote this."she said in an honest voice.

"That´s _my_ handwriting, Mrs Tofu. The paper contains the list of pets that turned out to be sick for the past two days."

Violet´s eyes opened wide and she nodded in understanding.

"So that´s what you´re here for. Of course. Come on in, detective."she said leading him into the Tofu house.

With a loud noise Curly tore off a piece of Wiseman´s coat, but Wiseman pleased that this was getting somewhere didn´t notice. Even as Curly entered the house first with his trophy in mouth.

The first thing Wiseman noticed when he entered the kitchen was that the house was cramped full of small makeshift dens and baskets, each of them holding small animals. Dogs, cats, hampsters, rabbits, guinea-pigs, even a chinchilla. He immediatly pulled out his small note-pad and started to make notes. Just then Buba entered the house from the yard.

"You´re back. I hope you have the... oh, we´re having a guest."she said noticing Wiseman, who was looking from one animal to the next.

"Yes Mom. I´m sure you remember detective Wiseman. He wanted to check these poor little things himself."said Violet and Buba nodded.

"Nice to see, you´re taking an interest, detective. We don´t know what could´ve caused this epidemic."she said earnesly.

Wiseman looked from a small pup at her and moved forward. But he tripped over a basket holding a kitten and fell on the floor.

"Are you all right, detective."said Buba in worry, but Wiseman was already on his feet.

"Of _course_ I´m all right Mrs..."

"Greenfield, detective. Suzan Greenfield."said Buba holding out his hand.

As Wiseman made to take it, he hit his head on one of the cages hanging from the cieling. Taking a step back, he tripped on another one of the baskets and fell to the floor again.

The animals hearing the commotion started to respond in their own way. Dogs barking, cats mewing, birs chirping as the detective pulled himself off the ground once more.

However one gentle shushing sound from Mom was all that it took to get all of them to calm down. Wiseman fixed her with a stare.

"They seem to obey you pretty well Mrs Tofu."he commented in almost awe.

"They just need a soothing voice to calm them down, that´s all. By the way, I haven´t introduced myself yet, detective. Violet Tofu."she said extending her hand.

Wiseman shook it looking from Mom to Buba.

"Your name is Tofu..."he ponted to Mom  
"...and yet _you_ are called Greenfield?"he pointed to Buba looking from one to the other confusedly.

"Yes detective. Violet is my daughter. Jacob Tofu is my son-in-law."explained Buba.

"AHA! _Now_ it makes sence!"he exclaimed while pointing in the air in triumph and the two women giggled.

"You´re funny, detective. I like people with a sence of humor."commented Buba.

"This is not _funny_. Its a serious deduction."said Wiseman and looked confused again as the two giggled once more.

"But jokes aside detective. As you no doubt know, many neighbours have approached us wanting aid for their precious family relatives."said Mom.

"Family relatives? You´re running a _hospital_ as well?"he exclaimed and scribbled on the notepad more furiously.

"Where are the bodies? What have you done with the patients?"he asked in a cold voice.

Mom and Buba looked at him in confusion.

"They´re right here detective."said Buba gesturing to the pets.

Wiseman looked from one side to the next.

"All I see are pets."he said.

"_They_ are the family relatives, detective."explained Mom.

Wiseman looked completly confused now. He even stopped writing on his notepad.

"_What_ are you talking about?"

Buba and Mom looked at eachother and sighed.

"You don´t have a pet do you detective?"asked Buba.

Wiseman looked taken aback by the question for a moment. Then suddenly let out a large sniff and replied tearfully.

"No... I always wanted one, but Father would never allow it. I once brought a small puppy home when I was 5. I wanted to keep it, but Father forbade it and at once placed the pup in the local dog pound."he said, actually sobbing as he sat down on the chair.

"How _despicable_. To do that to a little child. The rough brute."said Buba, as Mom sat down next to Wiseman and patted his hand in a calming gesture.

"There, there detective. I can see that you also hold love for animals. And you see, these people who have them concider them a part of their families."she said while Wiseman calmed down, removed his sunglasses and wiped his tears on his sleeve.

"I... I guess. But... wait a minute..."

He shot up from the chair as though hit by an electric shock.

"Why are all these pets sick?"he asked looking from one to the other.

"That we don´t know detective."said Mom who got up from the chair as well.

"How can that be? You´re treating them, aren´t you?"he narrowed his eyes in suspition.

"All we know, that they had upset stomaches. For that a herb remedy will suffice."explained Buba and Wiseman started to scribble again.

"And you don´t know the cause? Very interesting. Do you have any other casualties... I mean patients?"he asked.

"They are out in the yard, detective. You´re more than welcome to look around."said Mom and led him to the garden.

As Wiseman was checking out one of the dens holding various small mammals he hadn´t noticed that something was perched on top of it.

With a loud crow, Cracker announced his presence and with a terryfied scream, Wiseman doubled over in fear and fell to the ground again.

"What...what is THAT?"he shouted in a panicked voice, pointing on Cracker, who appeared to be quite pleased with himself.

"That´s Cracker. Our family rooster."said Mom pointing to the purple rooster.

"Rooster?"exclaimed Wiseman as Cracker let out another crow.

Wiseman grabbed his ears.

"Why does it have to be so loud?"he cursed.

From the other side, Suzie approached him and licked him. Wiseman doubled over again.

"AHH! I´m being attacked!"he shouted rolling on the ground and Buba let out a laugh.

"No you´re not, detective. That´s Suzie – our goat."she explained as Suzie announced herself too.

Suddenly he felt something soft on the back of his head. As he looked up he noticed a sheep, its face centimeters from his own. With a "baah", the sheep licked him and Wiseman rolled over screaming again.

"That´s Curly. Our sheep."explained Mom with another "baah" from Curly.

"I _know_ its a sheep. What are they doing here anyway?"asked Wiseman as he pushed himself off the ground again.

"They´re our family pets, detective."explained Buba.

Wiseman looked incredulously at the two women, then the three animals and quickly scribbled down on his notepad.

"And they haven´t experienced anything like the other pets did?"

When both Mom and Buba confirmed negative, he scribbled some more.

"And that Pet convention is due when?"he asked though he knew full well.

"Next Friday afternoon, detective."answered Mom.

"And aren´t some of these pets its contestants?"

"Most of them yes."said Buba.

"It would be fortunate for _some_ to have their competition eliminated before the contest itself."he said in a meaningfull way.

"Oh, that won´t happen, detective. You see, the little patients are showing sighns of healing already. Our herb recipe will have them good as new in less than two days."said Mom confidently.

Wiseman thought about it some more and scribbled one last note before returning the notepad into his side-pocket.

"Well. I think that about wraps it up."he said in a pleased manner.

"Please do try to solve this detective. Whatever is causing this illness could still be out there."pleaded Buba.

"Oh don´t worry, Mrs Greenfield. I will solve this case. For sure."

As he said the last word he turned and stepped on an overturned rake.

Its wooden handle flew up and hit him straight in the head. The hit sent him flying backwards and with a loud splash, he landed straight in the Tofu garden´s pond.

...

**A/N:**Well as you no doubt have guessed (unless you possess the deduction skills of one Frederick Wiseman :D), I´ve taken the liberty of providing Mom, Pop and Buba with their own names. So, for future reading...

**Buba** – Suzan Greenfield (also nicknamed Zaza by her closest friends in the old days)

**Pop** - Jacob Tofu

**Mom** – Violet Tofu (nee Greenfield, of course)

Hope I´ve done a good job on the names. :-p


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

In Beauvillage´s Police Department, detective Wiseman was sitting in his new big office, that the mayor awarded him. Still dripping wet he was squeezing his coat into a bucket, in an attempt to get the water out of his clothes. The policemen were completly preplexed when he returned to the building half an hour ago drenched from head to toe with a waterlily on the top of his head.

Suddenly there was a knock on his door and a policeman, not much older than Wiseman himself had entered.

"Three boys have come to see you, detective."he said.

Wiseman smiled.

"At last. Send them in."

The policeman nodded and left. Moments later the Brainless wonders came trough his door. Their smiles however froze on their faces.

"What happened to you, detective?"asked Archie as Wiseman got up to greet them.

"A small accident over the course of duty my young friends. You have a fine example for what I´m about to say."he nonchalantly said as the trio looked confusedly.

Wiseman paced away looking out of his window.

"You said to me when that unfortunate incident was over, that you would like to help me should I need it. I´ve decided to take this a bit further."he said turning to the three boys.

"Rick, Lex and Harchy I´ve decided to make you my assistants."

The trio was ecstastic, even forgetting the detective´s mispronunciation of their names. They cheered and fist-bumped eachother. Wiseman smiled, but then took on a serious look.

"But be warned. If you want to join me in my war against crime, you must be prepared to face many obsticals in the way. And at times accidents happen, as you can see by the looks of me. The neverending battle against crime carries the risk of something like this happening all the time. It requires much determination and sacrifice and at times will be dangerous and painfull. Will you help me, no matter how much hard, unpleasant and even embarrassing could this path be?"

The trio looked at eachother. Wiseman was offering them more, than they could´ve hoped for.

"Of course, detective."said Nick bravely.

Wiseman nodded approvingly, his smile spreading more and more.

"In that case, you three will be my assistants. You will spend a lot of time and report only to me. You will be my eyes and ears for when I´m not around. You will be my hands and feet, when I´ll be unable to do something myself. Are you prepared for such servise?"

The trio once again nodded, their smiles equal to that of Wiseman´s.

Without another word, Wiseman approached his desk and opened one of the drawers.

"I knew, that I could count on you. That´s why I´ve brought these. I cannot give you a badge for you cannot be employed here, young as you are. But I believe, that even youngsters like you can be of great help to the police force. That´s why I have something that will symbolize our alliance. If you take them, we will no longer be friends, but become a _brotherhood_."he finished dramaticly as he opened a small wooden box, which ussualy held cigars.

The trio peered in and inside were three pairs of sunglasses. The same blue sunglasses detective Wiseman was wearing.

"Of course, detective."exclaimed Archie, reaching up for his pair.

"I´ll do whatever I can."said Tex, also taking his.

Nick however waited, and with a smile looked Wiseman in the eyes.

"Only so long as you actually _remember_ our names. Deal?"

"I´ll write them down."said Wiseman seriously.

With a feral smile Nick nodded and took the last pair of sunglasses. Little did anyone realize, as the three boys put on their blue sunglasses, that a group which will later on become one of the most legendary in the history of Beauvillage has been forged.

Wiseman´s smile couldn´t get any bigger. He always wanted to have a group like this eversince he was a kid. He approached the three and placed his hands on Tex´s and Archie´s shoulder.

"From this moment on, we will be known as _The brotherhood of the Wise_..." ***1**

...

Lola, Billy and Lily approached the Tofu house after Billy dropped his bike at his home, the three of them completly exhausted from their day in school.

"Good thing its Friday."Lola said as she opened the door.

Her best friend and boyfriend only nodded as they entered the kitchen. They gasped at the sight before of them. The number of pets in the kitchen seemes to have doubled.  
The teens looked sadly from one of the newcomers to the other and noticed, that they seemed to be in just as poor state like the onces that came in yesterday.

"Looks like its getting worse."commented Lily sadly.

"Oh. Welcome home, young cubs. As you can see, we had some more patients arrive while you were in school."said Mom while welcoming them.

Suddenly the silence in the house was interupted by a shout from outside.

"He WHAT?"

Mom and the teens instantly ran outside in panic. There at the outside table, Buba was sitting looking confused, April had her head down on the table, her shoulders shaking and Chichi with Miles were rolling on the ground in fits of hysterical laughter.

"Just...Too...Much..."Chichi got out between the laughs.

"Tell me about it... I... I only wish I had a recording of that... it would be so good... on the internet."stammered Miles from the ground also laughing his head off.

"I can´t understand what´s so funny. All I did was explain detective Wiseman´s visit this morning."Buba explained to the others, who were looking from Chichi to Miles.

"Oh, right. Poor detective."said Mom.

"Wiseman was here? What happened?"asked Lola slightly alarmed.

Billy and Lily were alarmed too. They didn´t think Wiseman would be on the prowl yet, even if their classmates wanted to call him to investigate.

"Yes. He must´ve heared about the epidemic and decided to ask around."said Buba.

"And then he remembered his childhood wish to have a pet and broke down crying."said Mom shaking her head sadly.

The comment set Chichi and Miles into another fit of laughter. Billy, Lily and Lola looked at eachother for a second before erupting with laughter as well.

"Now kids, really. You shouldn´t make fun of other people´s misfourtune."said Mom sternly.

"We´re not Mom. But this is _Wiseman_ we´re talking about."said Chichi, raising himself off the ground.

"You should have respect for the detective, Chichi."scolded Buba.

"But we _do _have respect Buba. However it doesn´t change the fact that the guy´s a moron."said Miles from the ground and all the teens laughed and nodded.

Mom and Buba looked at eachother and sighed.

Suddenly the house bell rang.

"Uh-oh. Looks like more patients arrived."said Chichi.

"More?"exclaimed Mom and Buba in unism.

"Yeah. Some of the kids in my school asked us to help their pets too."explained Chichi.

"Yours too, huh."said Lola.

"Oh no. Its really an epidemic then. What are we going to do?"exclaimed April.

"The real question is where are we going to put them all. I really doubt they´ll all fit in here."said Mom thoughtfully.

"I guess that means, that we´ll be bunking with some of them in our rooms."commented Lola.

"We will also find some room here in the yard."suggested Buba.

"Guess that means I have to construct more outdoor accomodations then."said Chichi looking around the yard.

"In any case we should get to work."said Lily as all of them made their way into the house.

"Say I just got a super idea."said Miles drawing all the attention to him.

"Can´t we charge the owners a small fee? Like 50 cents. With all the pets here it´ll still be a _greed-grabber_."

As soon as he finished, he cringed at the sight of the glares directed on him by everyone.

"What?"he asked innocently.

"How _can_ you think about money at a time like this?"asked Lola icily.

"I _always_ think about money."he said sounding almost like a small child trying to excuse his wrong-doing.

"Anyway, the answer is NO!"said Chichi coolly.

Miles made a loud "awww" and bowed his head down sadly. In an instant however he jerked his head back and had a happy expression on his face.

"Ok. I´ll make milions next week, then. In the meantime, _Michael Miles_ – _charity worker_ at your service."he said proudly springing into a salute.

This scored smiles from Mom and Buba, an eyeroll from Lola, chuckles from Billy and April and a fit of giggles from Lily.

"Good. Now that we straightened this out, let´s not keep the patients waiting."said Chichi happily as he made for the front door.

"Right. The Tofu vet station is open for _business_."exclaimed Miles joyfully as Chichi opened the door.

...

As the kids were lining up at the Tofu household bringing their pets there, no one paid any attention to the four heads poking from a nearby tree, their blue sunglasses shining.

"What´s the plan, detective?"asked one of them turning to the eldest of the foursome.

"A simple one...uh..."he paused before drawing up his sleeve and looking at the names he wrote down on his arm.

"...Tex. For now we will only observe and document everything they do. At first sighn of something fishy, we´ll break in an grab them."he said confidently pounding the tree with his fist.

Suddenly the sound of a cell phone ringing was heared. Archie reached into his pocket and answered the call.

"Mom? No... no... I don´t know when I´ll come home. We´re helping detective Wiseman with a secret investigation right now. Right. Bye."

He finished the call and placed his cell phone back into his pocket, before looking back on the Tofu house as though nothing had happened.

"Dude, which part of the word _secret_ can´t you understand?"growled Nick.

Archie looked at him, genually cofused.

"Nevermind that for now."said Wiseman as he saw the door open and the first of the kids in line entered the house.

"We´ll split up. Everyone find a good position to monitor the house, the yard and don´t forget to take pictures with your cameras. We´ll rezendevous here when I give you the signal on the beepers."

The three boys nodded.

"We´ll definitely catch them red-handed."said Archie confidently.

"Yeah. The bio-degraged are no match for the Brotherhood of the Wise."replied Tex proudly.

"Right. Time for action."said Nick excitedly.

"All right. Spread out."commanded Wiseman and the three ran away from the tree in search for a good position.

"With my brotherhood on the case, this case is as good as solved."said Wiseman to himself pounding the tree once more.

The next few hours were really hectic for both the Tofus and the newly formed brotherhood. Each of them taking the job really seriously, the brotherhood positioned themselfs at various places and observed trough binoculars, wrote down everything on notepads and taken a lot of photos when they deemed it neccesarry. During the first half-hour it became apparent, that the observations are not going to be without "accidents".

When Miles and Chichi jumped into the van to get the wood and other material for the accomodations, Miles took the need for swift action to his heart and in the haste of leaving forgot that the van was in reverse gear. As he moved, the van bumped into the tree, where Nick was sitting and the impact sent him flying from it. Chichi was so chaught up in scolding Miles, that none of them noticed, before Miles stepped on it and the van zoomed out of sight.

Then as Lily went to get rid of the waste water which was left after cleaning the various cages, she dumped the bucketfull of it on the bush, where Archie was hiding, leaving him soaking wet with an unpleasant smell clinging to his clothes.

Later on as Pop and Chichi were caught up with constructing the new cages, Pop accidently struck one of the sides with a hammer before Chichi could fasten the plank to it, sending the plank flying across the yard and struck Tex in the head, knocking him out for several minutes in his hiding place and leaving a giant bump on his head.

And when Billy and Lola ran out of the house in haste to get the vegetables and other stuff they needed from the grossery store, Wiseman had to jump into the meter long plants on the right side of the Tofu house´s front door to avoid being seen. He instantly understood that it was a bad idea. The plants turned out to be nettles and Wiseman instantly jumped out of them hopping around and cursing and in itchy, prickly pain caused by the nettle burns.

As the sun set above Beauvillage the policemen in the station were in for another strange sight that day, as the foursome limped, staggered and hopped into Wiseman´s office looking bruised, wet and in Wiseman´s case red-faced.

"Damn it! We learnt _nothing_."cursed Nick as he slowly and painfully sat on one of the chairs in Wiseman´s office and examined the still bleeding elbow he grazed during the fall.

"Except for the fact that they _are_ treating the animals."said Archie, his voice a bit high-pitched because of the fact, that he was holding his nose to block out the unpleasant smell his clothes were emitting.

"And building those damn cages too."exclaimed Tex, who was being passed and ice-pack from Wiseman and applying it over his bump, letting out a small sound of relief.

"We musn´t be discouraged, my young brothers."said Wiseman putting down his glasses, the shape of them on his eyes were the only pieces of skin that wasn´t red at the moment.

He pulled out his notepad and placed it on the table. He gestured for the others to do the same.

"Let´s go over our findings. These clues have to point to _something_."he said in a frustrated voice.

"Brother..uh.. detective? Can´t I go home and take a shower first, please?"pleaded Archie who would like nothing more than shed his stinky clothes off.

"You´re right A..Archie. We should treat our wounds first. All right. Let´s rendezvous here in half an hour."he said and the three young ones nodded.

"Mark my words, boys. We _will_ get to the bottom of this."

...

Nightime descended on Beauvillage.  
The atmosphere in the Tofu household was very cheery dispite the number of its patients. Most of the work had been done and everyone was now seated at the kitchen table as Miles and Billy were feeding some of the pets the herb recipe. The two dispite having no knowledge on helping the animals prior to this had learnt quickly and got surprisingly into it.

"Open up Bridgess, there´s a good girl."said Miles as he fed the small pooch.

"See, Miles? And you wanted to charge the owners a fee."said Lily with a smile watching him.

"Yeah well. I never had a pet to begin with, so I admit I´ve been wrong to look at it that way."he replied nonchalantly.

"Its nice to see, that you can admit your mistakes and learn from them."said Mom appreciatively.

"Ah well. There´s nothing wrong with that I suppose. But after this, its time to grab some _greed_."he finished with a jovial gesture drawing yet another giggle from Lily.

"In any case, it seems that the herb recipe works like a charm. Our little patients should be fine in no time."said Buba happily.

"That´s good to hear."said April, who was busy nursing several scratches and cuts Chichi had from building at top speed.

"Yeah, but me and Pop made so much cages and dens, that I don´t know what we´ll do with them after this has passed."he said as April started to work on the several cuts on his left hand.

"Hey, I´m pretty sure Mike Lorgan will happily take ´em off our hands."exclaimed Miles in sudden inspiration.

"Doesn´t he hold a pet shop in Megacity?"asked Chichi trying to remember.

"Yeah. And I´ll bet, he´ll be interested. Damn, I might even get a decent price a piece. _Mucho-money_ here I come!"replied Miles happily already picturing the profit.

"See? You will even get a way to profit from this. Helping really does pay off."said Lily smilingly.

"Tell me about it. Sheesh I should´ve gotten into this _charity business_ a long time ago."

Everyone laughed as Bridgess finished her recipe and licked Miles´ hand in appreciation.

"Leave it to Miles to come across some way to profit."said Chichi shaking his head in humor.

"And leave it to _you_ to get all bruised up, when you´re working."said Lola deliberately while eyeing him and April.

"Its a good thing we´ve got April to always take care of you."she said hoping her baby brother would get the hint for once.

"Yeah, you´re one in a milion, April."he said smiling at her.

April´s face instantly sported a crimson blush and she chuckled nervously as she applied small bandages on his fingers and repressing a strong urge to kiss them.

"So I guess, that means that the pet convention is still on. Me and Phil will really have our hands full next week then."he said changing the subject, already looking forward to more building.

Lola, April and Lily looked at eachother with a giant sigh.

"_Yup. Failed again._"said Lola to herself.

"Of course. The mayor even promised to give you two boys some reward for building the stage and all."said Pop, happy at his son´s craftyness.

"Reward? How much are we talking about? Can I join in as well Chich?"asked Miles very fast.

"You _can _join in, but knowing mayor Haveitall, I´m not sure it´ll be money as a reward."

Chichi and Phil had way too many run-ins with the populistic mayor to know, that he ussualy says one thing and does another on a mere whim.

"Aww shucks."said Miles bowing his head.

He noticed, that his finger had some of the thick green herb recipe on it and absent-mindedly licked it.

"Hey... wait a minute."he replied to the sweet taste in his mouth.

He took another piece of it from Bridgess´ bowl and licked it again.

"Hey. This stuff is delicious."he exclaimed.

"Of course. Its a natural product. Its also very healthy. Gives you lots of vitamins and does wonders for the digestive system."explained Mom as Miles started to lick the bowl in his hands in a very dog-like manner making Lily and April laugh.

"This stuff would be alsolutely perfect with soft meat."he said and the elders in the room, being vegetarians cringed.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Uh-oh. Let´s just hope its not anotherone."said Chichi as he got up to open the door.

"Oh. Good evening Mrs Hubbub."he said politely as he opened the door.

"Its _Beth_, Chichi. Oh, I see that all of you certainly had your hands full."said Beth Hubbub as she walked in the house and greeted everyone.

"I wanted to know, if you plan on spending the night here, Billy. You didn´t mention anything and its getting a bit late."

Billy looked at his watch. Sure enough it was nearly 10pm.

"Uh-oh. Looks like we really worked overtime."he commented.

"We got so chaught up, we didn´t even notice the time."said Lily and April nodded.

"In that case, we´d better go home as well."

Billy, Lily and April got up and started for the door.

"You´re staying in the van I suppose?"Lily asked Miles, who was also getting to his feet.

"Yeah. I mean I know, that Mom and Pop Tofu don´t like it and prefer me to sleep here, but there´s not enough room in here now."he said and the elders nodded.

"Let´s call it a day then. But we´ll drop by tommorow to give you a hand again."said Billy before kissing Lola and leaving along with Beth, Lily and April.

...

The weekend passed happily for the Tofus and their friends. The pets were getting better by the hours. By sunday morning they were all as good as new. Miles and Lily went around the town in Miles´ van and informed the owners that they are free to get their pets back. It only took one or two people to tell the information and within an hour all of Beauvillage knew.

"I can´t thank all of you enough."said Mrs Pebble as she was leaving with Bridgess.

"That´s all right Mrs Pebble. It was our pleasure."said Mom as she left.

Soon enough both Lola´s and Chichi´s classmates came for their pets.

"Thanks Chichi. You guys are the best."said Chloe happily as she hugged her white kitten, who looked pleased to be back in her arms.

"No problem, Chloe."said Chichi nonchalantly.

Chloe smiled, kissed his cheek and left. Chichi chuckled to himself his cheeks slightly red.

"_Maybe Phil was kinda right. This is the sixth kiss I got today._"

Lola and Billy were chatting happily with their classmates, who shown similar happiness and gratitude.

"Jeez, its really an incredible feeling seeing them reunited with their pets."said Billy in awe as the last of them left.

"The animals were equally happy I think."said Lola as she gently strocked Billy´s pidgeon Rocky as he perched on her shoulder.

The gang decided to have a small celebration in the yard.

"I´m almost sad, that all the pets left. They proved to be a nice distraction from the week that lies ahead of us."commented Lola as all of them sat down on the blankets on the ground.

"Yeah. The world of alarms awaits. Oh boy, I´d take _this_ over it any day."said Billy sadly, as Lola placed her head on his shoulder.

"Amyas already called and said that they´re on a case in Megacity. Says he´ll come for me first thing in the morning."explained Lola already dreading of that moment.

"What are you going to do, Lily?"asked April as she scooted closer to Chichi who was opening a can of lemon beer and didn´t pay attention to it.  
"Me and my Mom are going to the Stony moutains. She and her collagues are excavating there. She mentioned some prehistoric fossils."

Lily´s comment brought out a breath of pure awe from Chichi.

"Wow. Dinosaurs. _Too much_, Lily."

Lily smiled appreciatively at him.

"It´ll be an interesting experience, sure. But to tell the truth I´m not really sure that´s what I want to do for a living."

"Hm... and what would you like to do?"asked Miles.

"I don´t know... I enjoy travelling and culture."said Lily thoughtfully.

"Wow! _Exploration_ - _relaxation_. Not bad, _flower-girl_."exclaimed Miles and Lily laughed.

Also she felt her cheecks heat up in a blush at the new nickname Miles gave her.

"What about you Miles?"she asked shyly.

"Oh. I´m going to Megacity first thing in the morning. The cages and all. Plus, lots of _business_ awaits."he said happily.

"Beats our week anyway. Back to boring old school for us."said April sadly.

"Yeah and Starchy has already promised us a test tommorow. The old hag."growled Chichi.

"Yup. Between taking care of the animals I had to study up into the night. She really didn´t need to give us a geography test so soon."said April shaking her head.

"The worst thing about it – I _hate_ geography. I suck at it, completly."replied Chichi, taking an angry swig from his lemon beer. ***2**

"Hey, if you want we can go to our place and I can tutor you, Chichi."suggested April.

"Would you really?"he looked at her hopefully.

"Of course. I really wouldn´t want to see you fail, like Starchy´d love to see."she replied staunchly, while Lily and Lola winked at eachother.

Chichi smiled a milion dollar smile at her and April was secretly glad, she was sitting right now – the sight was making her weak-kneed.

"You´re really the best, April."said Chichi joyfully and April was once more blushing like crazy.

"In that case, you two better get going, so you have a lot of time for _studying_."said Lola pointedly, glad at the chance this presented.

Chichi and April nodded and got up.

"D´you think something will happen thistime?"asked Lily as the two left the yard.

"I hope so. I´m getting tired of giving that knucklehead hints everyday."said Lola shaking her head.

"The way I know Chichi, it´s pointless on giving him hints like that. He´ll catch on on his own. Just give him time."said Miles sagely.

The rest of the gang continued to chat happily unaware, that they were being watched from afar.

"Looks like we don´t have a thing to prove anything."growled Nick, his eyes glued on his binoculars.

"Yeah, the pet crisis seems to have ended."said Tex quietly also with binoculars in hand.

"Damn it. And bio-trash will once again be the hero of the class."cursed Archie already picturing the class tommorow.  
All three looked at detective Wiseman, who was watching internly.

"Patience my brothers. I expect, that this is far from over."

...

**A/N**  
**1.**The _dumb_ side has risen. :-P _Lord Wiseman_ has spoken – poor Plagueis must be jumping somersaults in his grave right now :-D Sheesh too much Star wars, really. I can almost hear the Imperial march playing. But seriously, what in the world have I unleashed on poor unsuspecting Beauvillage.  
**2.** I figured that any technological genius can´t possibly be great in every subject. Judging from some of my friends. I also thought that all of us have some subjects we are weak in. I decided to pass one of my traits on to Chichi – my complete ineptitude for geography. And since Mrs Starchy is probably one of the least loved teachers in the series and constantly on Chichi´s case, I figured she should teach Chichi´s most hated subject – I had a geography teacher like that as well and that probably explains my hate for the subject. Also Miles´ nickname for Lily. Maybe it sounded a bit wierd, but Miles is one of those that points out certain things in his own logic. )


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

As Cracker´s crowing announced the start of a new day, Lola and Billy were already in the Tofu yard. In fact, they´ve been there for several hours now. Lola attempted to fall asleep almost all night, but to no avail. Finally giving up at 4am, she wanted something to distract her. When she glanced out the window, she saw the small light in Billy´s window next door. Immediatly knowing, that her boyfriend must be having the same troubles, she quickly phoned him and in less than 10 minutes later they met in the yard. They proved to be the perfect distractions for eachother as they spent hours talking, joking and cuddling under the trees until the sun rose. Soon enough Chichi came out still yawning, bade them good morning and walked across the yard to the fence, on the other side of which a blue van was parked.

A few moments later he and Miles started to load the cages into the van. The young couple joined in as well and in no time at all the van was loaded and the foursome dined in the yard. Their laughter was abruptly ended at the sound of several loud puffs, that were heared across their neighbourhood.

"What in the...?"muttered Billy looking around, trying to find the source of the noise.

"Sounds like an exhaust engine."said Chichi recodnizing the sound as it grew louder.

"Sounds like its coming here."said Lola as all of them stood up.

With a giant puff the sounds stopped. Looking at eachother for a while, they sprinted into the house. They found that Mom, Pop and Buba were also getting up from the table.

"Did you hear that?"asked Pop slightly alarmed.

"I think it stopped here."commented Mom.

"Well let´s go take a look."said Buba as she was getting up.

Together, everyone stepped out the front door.

Before the Tofu house´s gateway, blocking it completly stood a large green van, almost like the one Pop owned. However, it was now emiting steam like crazy. Infront of it stood a tall, slightly chubby man, dressed in bright green trousers and a yellow flannel shirt, who was looking at the van, scratching his brown curly hair.

"Oh dear. How could _that_ happen?"he asked himself.

"Amyas."called Pop from the door, obviously happy to see his nephew.

The young man turned his head and his face was similar to that of Pop´s only much younger. It also mimicked the same happy smile.

"Uncle Jake, Aunt Violet"he exclaimed before he ran up to them and hugged them both at the same time.

Billy and Miles stepped back a bit to give the Tofus some room for the reunion.

"How you´ve been Amyas?"asked Mom smilingly.

"Oh not bad... Buba. Its been a while."he said letting go of them and embraing Buba in turn.

"It sure has. I can´t believe how much you´ve grown."she said hugging him back happily. She haven´t seen him for a few years now.

"Lola you precious flower, you look more beautyfull each time I see you."he said happily before hugging her.

Lola smiled slightly before returning the hug.

"Hi Amyas"

As he released her he took a look to the youngest Tofu.

"Woah, Chichi is that you?"he exclaimed in complete astonishment.

Chichi grinned and nodded.

"Yup. Surprised, Amyas?"he asked cheekily.

"Sure am. My favourite little cousin is _really_ growing up."he said in surprise before embracing Chichi as well.

As the two broke away from eachother, he noticed the two he didn´t know.

"And who are you guys?"he asked kindly.

"Amyas, this is Billy. My boyfriend."said Lola with a small blush, immediatly going to Billy´s side who smiled.

"So you´re the boy she´s told me about so many times."he said before shaking his hand.

"Billy Hubbub."answered Billy happily as they shook their hands.

"Always charming"added Lola, drawing a blush from her boyfriend.

"And _this_ is my good friend."said Chichi gesturing to Miles.

"Michael Miles – _always greedy_."said Miles with a jovious gesture, before offering his hand.

Amyas looked completly confused, while the rest of them let out a short laugh.

Suddenly the van gave out another loud puff and a wave of steam.

"Woah. What´s wrong with your van?"asked Pop eyeing the green van.

"I have no idea. It was doing that for days, but never this much."he answered.

"DAYS? Amyas, its obviously _busted_. Haven´t you been to the service with it?"exclaimed Chichi.

"Oh, I didn´t have the time, Chichi. I was too busy with the EPO. We had a tough case."

Chichi slapped a hand to his forehead.

"And _that´s_ the result. There´s no way this thing is going to move _now_."he said pointing to the still steaming van.

"Then, how are we going to get into Megacity?"said Lola, silently hoping that this setback would refrain them from leaving.

"I could take you, I suppose but we´ll have to empty out my van."suggested Miles.

"Oh no. Look Michael, I´m sorry, but we´re not going in some four wheeled _coal-eater_."said Amyas.

Miles looked at him, then at Chichi.

"True Tofu isn´t he?"he muttered quietly to Chichi, who nodded.

"Be my guest Amyas, but please call me Miles."

Amyas looked at him for a while.

"I apologize if I offended you..."he started, unsure how to take Miles´ plea, but Miles held his hand.

"Not at all, but I _prefer_ to be called by my surname, that´s all."he siad with a genuine smile.

After a few seconds, Amyas nodded.

"I could always fire up our car and lend it to you."suggested Pop while getting an angry hiss from Lola.

"No need Uncle Jake. I´ve got a back-up plan for just such emergencies."

Amyas turned and ran towards his van. He opened the back-door on it and brought out two bicycles.

"You have to be JOKING!"exclaimed Lola.

"Why not? I mean its ecological _and_ perfectly good exercise."said Amyas happily.

"But Megacity is 30 miles from here. I doubt you will get there so soon."commented Chichi.

"Don´t worry cousin. We´ll be there in two hours or so."said Amyas cheerfully.

"Aren´t we supposed to be there... you know, like on _certain_ time?"asked Lola.

"I´ll just call the guys in EPO and tell them we´ll be a bit late. Its no problem at all."

Mom, Pop and Buba looked at eachother and nodded gesturing Amyas into the house.

"Well Amyas, in that case there´s no problem."said Mom.

"You can call your collagues from our house."suggested Pop.

"And in the meantime, you can have a bite to eat. I don´t know if you had breakfast."finished Buba before the three of them plus Amyas went inside the house leaving the young teens rooted on the spot.

"_Please_ tell me it´s not happening."lamented Lola.

Billy instantly took her in his arms, hoping to comfort her a bit, but to no avail.

"Look Lola. Even without emptying the van I can still take _you_. Just tell him you´ll meet him somewhere."suggested Miles.

"Nah. You heared him. And besides I would have to wait for a _long_ time before he would come."said Lola depressively.

"Here Lola, I can give you some money. You could wait for him in some shopping center or anywhere else for that matter."said Chichi drawing the small ammount of bills Miles had given him five days ago from the breast-pocket in his red vest.

"No Chichi. I can´t possibly accept this."she said waving away the offer.

"At least use it for a train ride. Either here or the way home. _Please_."he said with a sincere look on his face.

"Chichi..."she began.

"NO! I insist. At least for the way home."he said seriously.

Lola looked at the defiant look on his face and after a while smiled and nodded.

"Ok... I´ll ... I´ll return this to you Chichi."she said as she slowly took the bills from his hand.

"No need. I get more than I can spend from _Mr Greed_ over here. Fixing his van and all, which needs constant service I might add."he said with a small glare on Miles, before continuing.  
"I just want you to get safely home by train, rather than paddle back on the freeway."he said once more in a serious voice.

Moved, Lola quickly embraced her brother, hugging him tightly.

"Thanks Chichi. You´re the best little bro a girl could ask for."she said and she really meant it thistime.

Chichi chuckled against her.

"Then again, you can always get me the new Gzorbial galaxy set later on."he said in good humor.

"Hey, don´t get carried away there, squirt!"remarked Lola in mock-exasperation as she let go of him.

The Gzorbial playset – a model of the frachize galaxy was to general knowledge extremely expensive.

Billy and Miles laughed a bit at the interaction the siblings were exchanging, until a loud voice from the other yard called Billy´s name.

"Uh-oh. That´s my Dad. Gotta go."said Bily sadly.

Lola immediatly came to him and kissed him full on. Both Miles and Chichi turned around pointedly and started to whistle to themselfs.

"Good luck today. I hope you´ll have a fine day."she whispered to him as they broke away.

"I´m sure I will. I only hope _you´ll_ have a bearable day. I´ll meet you in the evening."he said quietly, before he turned away and went back into the Hubbub household.

Lola watched him longingly for a second before hearing the front door open.

"Lola, sweet buttercup, its time to get dressed for work."said Mom in a happy sing-song voice, waving an official EPO green shirt.

Lola sighed and bowed her head.

"Well, might as well go and face the music."she muttered and slowly went into the house, leaving Chichi and Miles standing there unsure how to feel about the situation.

...

"...so we´ve got to fix Amyas´ van, so that means no Hidehole for at least a day or two."

Chichi finished telling Phil and April everything as they went for their first lession.

Phil looked visibly saddened by the latter. April however looked thoughtfull.

"Until such time I don´t see a problem with riding a bicycle to Megacity. Its certainly something different and it really can´t hurt to get a bit of exercise."she said optimistically.

"With all the speed-maniacs on the freeway, not even counting Miles, _yes it can_."replied Chichi with a glare.

He was really worried for both Lola and Amyas. Nearly everyday news brought at least one case of a freeway accident.

"Can´t see what´s his problem riding with Miles."said Phil darkly.

"A _fuel_ problem. I only wish I got the van running on bio-diesel. Had I known I would´ve done it a week ago, when I was fixing the crash damage."brooded Chichi.

"Anyway its not something you can influence now. Right now, you´ve got to concentrate on Starchy´s geography test. You know she puts up a mean test thistime around."said April and Chichi visibly tensed.

"Uh-oh. I _forgot_. That stupid test is like right _now_."he said nervously.

"Don´t worry. As long as you remember everything we went trough yesterday, you´ll do fine."said April consolingly.

Chichi didn´t want to tell her, that he wasn´t sure if he remembered anything at all. Geography tests always made him so nervous, that he could barely think straight. All he could see was old Starchy´s smug face as she announced a zero infront of the entire class.

As they entered the classroom, many of their classmates came to them, thanking them once more for their pets.

"Don´t worry, Chichi. I can always slip you an answer if you need it."said Chloe, knowing Chichi´s geography weakness.

"Thanks, Chloe. But April tutored me for a bit yesterday and I think I´ll be able to hande it. No point risking a zero _plus_ a detention."he said earnestly, lying a bit about his certainity in handling the test.

"Its the least I can do after you helped my little Snowball."she said in equal earnestness.

"Thanks for the offer though."he said with a smile.

"Just remember. One small whisper and I´ll help."she promised as she winked and walked to her seat.

"She´s a good friend."commented April, who was standing at Chichi´s side.

Chichi nodded but a second later Mrs Starchy entered the classroom. Chichi gulped as he took his seat next to Phil.

"Archie! Take those ridicilous sunglasses off this instant."Starchy screamed at her nephew.

"But these are special. They are..."he was cut off by Nick who elbowed him in the stomache.

"Shut up and take them off! No one is supposed to know about the brotherhood yet!"he hissed quietly and Archie did as he was instructed.

Chichi, though sitting right behind them didn´t notice. He was too busy trying to calm himself down. As Mia handed out the test papers he took small solace in the fact, that however bad this situation was, it was probably nothing to what his sister and her friends must be presently facing.  
Taking a deep breath he took a pencil into his hand and looked at the sheet.

"_Let´s see now... question one..._"

...

"_This could NOT get more boring._"thought Lily Robins as she was looking at the Stony moutains´ cliffs.  
It was now almost noon and she has been bored stiff for about four hours. She and her mother left early in the morning in order to be on the excavation site exactly on 8am sharp. Her mother being the head of the excavation was busy organizing, even if there was not much to do right now. They have run into prehistoric fossils underground but they needed to get them to the surface and the special drills they had was too worn out to continue work. That meant, that until they either got the equipment fixed or replaced by new ones they were on a standstill. All they could do is wait for someone to resolve the situation. Mr Digdeep, the chief of the workers said, that he called for some unusual help, so they had to wait for it.

"_If only I had a book with me. I could at least finish some reading, since there´s nothing else to do._"she thought as she approached a scope overlooking the stony valley.

She amused herself for a while at the thought of how Phil and Chichi would act if they were here. Chichi´s seemingly neverending curiosity would be in seventh heaven, especially seeing some of the smaller fossils they´ve uncovered. The two boys would undoubtably try to uncover more.

"_If they´d be here, they would certainly look at some of those machines. Maybe even fix them._"

As she looked over the edge she had a small image of Lola and Billy enjoying a sunset watching the valley and cuddling... just the way _she_ herself wishes to cuddle with a boy, sharing a loving and romantic moment.

"_Oh, man! I _really_ need a boyfriend._"she sighed as she continued walking around watching the scenery.

She took a moment to recall the unfortunate romances she had. All of them were crushes and the boys turned out to be very different from what seemed on the surface. Perhaps its some sort of a law. In fact, besides Miles she had yet to meet a male representative, who would be completly open with his emotions. He was an incredible exception to the rule. Sure he was fixed on his _goals_ – as she called it sometimes, but it was nice that he was honest enough to announce what he was up to even if it was a bit dishonest. But at least one knew what to expect.

"_And to think, That just two or three weeks ago, I thought of him to be something of a criminal._"

Indeed she felt a slight pang of shame in believing the rumors going on about him in Megacity. Eventhough she got to know him just over two weeks ago, he was very easy to befriend and get along with. Also it seemed, that he never needed to hide anything no matter _who_ was infront of him. Lily herself envied him a bit, to be able to be so open with his emotions. Plus there was the fact, that he was a man of experience, handsome, muscular, funny and eventhough he played a fool at times, he _was_ knowledgeable. But he was always a constant mystery full of surprises. It was something she found appealing and she was starting to get interested in unraveling the mysteries that surrounded him.

Suddenly the ground beneath her shook for a second and she felt herself losing balance.

The rocky surface she was standing on, weakened by the excavation gave out and was slipping downward. She tried desperately to grab on to something, but nothing was at hand. In a matter of nano-seconds she felt herself going over the edge. She screamed and closed her eyes, she would surely fall down and die. Suddenly she felt something grab her arm. A strong hand. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down. She was hanging suspended in mid-air a three or four meter fall beneath her.

"Woah. Close call there, _flower-girl_."

The voice she heared was all too familiar. She raised her head and looked up to see her saviour.

"Miles!"she exclaimed, as he slowly pulled her back up with one hand.

"_Oh my God, he´s strong._"she thought.

"OMG, you´re light."he said.

Once she was back on solid ground she felt herself blushing as Miles grinned.

"LILY! Oh my God! Are you all right?"

She heared her mother exclaim as she and some of her collagues rushed to her aid.

"Yes, Mom. I´m perfectly fine, thanks to my saviour."said Lily gesturing to Miles with a smile.

"Thank you. Thank you very much..."Mrs Robins was stammering to Miles while hugging Lily.

"Aww shucks."replied Miles sheepishly while scratching his head, blushing a brilliant shade of red which suprisedly suited him.

"Mom, this is my friend, Michael Miles."said Lily gesturing to Miles once more.

"_You´re_ the mysterious Michael Miles?"exclaimed Mrs Robins pointing her finger to him.

"No. I´m the _greedy _Michael Miles."he said, pointing his thumb to himself with a grin.

This got a giggle from Lily and even her mother let out the small chuckle and let out her hand.

"Pleased to meet you. Julia Robins."

Miles took her head, but instead of a handshake, he lowered his head respectfully and kissed the back of her hand.

"Madam."he said nonchalantly drawing giggles from both mother and daughter.

"Being all respectfull doesn´t suit you, Miles."giggled Lily.

"Its cute though."commented her mother with a wink.

"What are you doing here Miles? Not that I mind having you around."asked Lily.

"What else? _Business_. This dude Digdeep called me up wanting drills, so I brought ´em. Then I saw you walking around here and wanted to say hello, before I saw the rock break beneath your feet."he explained as all of them went back to the site. Lily could just see Miles´ blue van standing there.

"Some of those edges are very unstable indeed. You should´ve been more carefull, Lily."scolded her mother and Lily blushed a bit though she was unsure why.

"Sorry, Mom. I´ll be more carefull."she answered quietly and embarrassedly.

"Aww come on Mrs Robins, accidents are unpredictable. Let´s just be glad nothing happened."said Miles in a off-handed tone.

"You´re right I suppose."she said, before they were interupted by a older chubby man with a mustache.

"Oh, Miles, you´re here! Thank goodness! You´ve brought what we needed?"

Miles snorted.

"Jeez, man. Who d´you take me for? Of course I brought the drills. But you gotta pay a lot. They weren´t easy to get a hold of."said Miles as he opened the back of his van, inside there were quite large drills, which Lily was sure were not accessable in any of the shops.

"How much?"asked Digdeep narrowing his eyes. Julia sighed as though she knew something the others didn´t.

"400."said Miles cheerfully.

"HOW MUCH?"shouted Digdeep, losing colour in his face.

"C´mon a class 3 non-tradable object of this size? What d´you expect?"argumented Miles waving his hand.

"You want 400 dollars for THAT?"exclaimed Digdeep pointing at the drills.

Miles looked at the drills then at Digdeep.

"You´re right. 250."he said and Digdeep smirked.

"That´s better."he said smugly.

"For each."said Miles.

"WHAT?"

"Yeah. I figure you wanted this for bargain price, so I´ll collaborate. Without tax or anything else one of these babies fetch 250 a piece. _Mucho price_, man."he finished with a gesticulation and Digdeep inflated like a baloon, while Lily and Julia quickly pressed their hand to their mouths to stiffle the giggles, that were threating to erupt.

"That´s 750 dollars!"he growled at Miles, who was at least a head taller than him.

"Yup. Bargain price, _good deal_."he replied with a thimbs up.

"And how do I know, that they are genuine! What if they break as soon as we start digging?"Digdeep growled eyeing him suspiciously.

"Well..."started Miles pulling out a bunch of papers from his pocket.

"...these are the insurance papers for them. With them you can get new ones should these fail. However, since the papers aren´t included in the bargain price, you would have to buy them _normal_ price."

Digdeep was turning even more white, completly besides himself with rage.

"That means you´d be required to pay the standard price 500 a piece and the papers are included, wouldn´t want to blackmail you, you know."explained Miles calmly as though explaining the whole thing to a 5 year old.

Lily and Julia were forced to turn around to hide the looks on their faces, their hands clapped tightly on their mouths, the temptation to laugh getting stronger by the second. The workers however weren´t so successfull dispite one of their hands covering their mouths too. They knew of their boss Digdeep´s greedy personality and unwillingness to pay for anything unless explicitly required, and they were troughoutly enjoying seeing him getting his comeupance.

"1500 dollars? You can´t be _serious_, Miles!"yelled Digdeep.

"Damn you´re right!"said Miles as though in revelation and a wave of silence lingered.

"There´s also the matter of transportation plus these take for three to six weeks to aquire trough normal means so that´s 500 more for the speedy service."

"I AM NOT PAYING 2000 DOLLARS!"Digdeep´s yelling was echoing trough the valley and everyone was shaking with surpressed laughter as the arrogant old man was slowly getting more and more enraged and unable to do anything about it.

Miles looked at him for a second, and in a speedy motion closed the door to his van.

"Well if you´re not interested..."he said turning around.

"NO! WE NEED THOSE!"yelled Digdeep and Miles turned to him with an outstretched hand.

"Then pay up, fat man."

Everyone´s second hand immediatly came up to their mouths and some were even turning red, trying hard not to release a sound.

With a exaspirated roar Digdeep dug deep in his pocket and took out the envilope he got from the National Archeology Fund, which had a huge ammount of money in it. Taking the 2000 dollars out of it, he passed it to Miles, who opened the van´s door again.

"Get those drills into their places! We are behind scheduele!"he screamed at the workers, who were nearly crouching, trying to hold their laughter, while Miles counted the money.

"_What?_"exclaimed Miles and Digdeep turned to him.

"What now?"he asked arogantly.

"D´you want me to _starve_? No _tip_?"

That was too much for everyone. The valley erupted with laughter, some of the workers were even rolling on the ground in a fit of uncontrollable laughter as Digdeep let out another roar of rage and stomped away cursing.

Fifteen minutes later Lily, Julia and Miles were in the main tent, the former two still chortling.

"I´ve never seen Digdeep losing the highground in a bargain. You played it nicely Mr Miles."said Julia in appretiation, since she saw the workers and businessmen being ripped off by Digdeep way too many times.

"Just Miles, please."said Miles casually drawing a confused look from Julia.

"He likes to be called by his surname only, Mom."explained Lily and Julia´s confused look turned to one of curiosity.

"Interesting. May I ask why?"

Miles sctatched his head and grinned.

"Well, let´s just say, it suits me better."

Julia still looked curious, but decided not to push it.

"Anyway Lily, the installation of new drills will most likely take the remainder of the day. I guess you really don´t have much to do here today."she commented thoughtfully.

"May I go home Mom?"asked Lily suddenly.

"How? The workers will be too busy with the drills and I have to remain. There´s no one to take you home right now."

Lily however looked at Miles.

"You´re going home to Beauvillage, right?"

Miles looked thoughtfull.

"Well, I do have a few stops on the way, but yeah."he said and Lily smiled.

"I wouldn´t want you to hold Miles up, or change his plans."said Julia.

"No worries Mrs Robins. Lily can tag along, its no problem at all. And my ultimate plan is _greed_ and no one can change that."

Julia smiled and nodded.

"All right then. You may go, then."

With that Miles stood up, bid Julia goodbye and made for his van.

"Thanks Mom. I´ll see you at home."said Lily before she too exited the tent and got into the passanger seat of the van.

"Hope you´re ready, _flower-girl_. Next stop Dry Valley."exclaimed Miles as he started the engine.

"Sure. As long as you drive..."before she had a chance to finish, Miles stepped on it and in a few seconds took three or four turns at top speed, before reaching the main road.

"...SLOWLY!"

...


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Billy was standing on the Beauvillage Train station. He glanced at his watch. It was 5 pm sharp. The train from Megacity was due any minute. Lola called him up more than half an hour ago asking him to come for her to the station, before she boarded the train. He really hoped that she had a good time today. Because _he_ certainly hadn´t.

"I swear I´ve never seen a duller work."he growled to himself.

He pondered for about 342nd time today just how in the _hell_ could his father do this everyday and still be so enthusiastic about it. Just the task of acquainting himself with the models of the systems was pure _boreville_. The construction plans and putting the alarms together he could manage, it certainly proved to be just a bit livelier than anything else. But all in all it was a pretty boring way to spend a day.

Suddenly a loud sound was heared and Billy knew that the train had arrived. He rushed to it just as the first passangers were exiting. Looking for his girlfriend he was looking around franticly. Suddenly in slow steps Lola exited the train looking almost as tired like Chichi looked more than two weeks ago, when most of Beauvillage believed him to be addicted to drugs. In less than a second he covered the distance between them, immediatly taking her in his arms.

"Lola! Are.. are you all right?"he asked uncertainly as he felt her melt into the embrace.

"I´ve never felt so tired in my life."she replied tiredly.

"C´mon. Let´s get you home."he said his arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the station.

All she could do was nod before they got on Billy´s bike and rode towards the Tofu house.

As they stopped near the gateway, they noticed that the green van was parked infront of the house, its front motor part was disassembled and three figures dressed in blue overalls were seen working inside the opened motor case.

"Sheesh, I´m astounded this crate moved for so long. Everything is in desolate condition."commented Chichi as he raised his head, his face and hair smirched in oily substance.

"At this rate we will need to change some of the parts."said Pop raising his head too, also dirty from the same stuff and holding some kind of tube in his hand.

"Wouldn´t building a new car be easier?"asked Phil as he raised his head too.

The three turned around and noticed Lola and Billy come closer.

"Lola! My sweet little orchid. How was your first day?"exclaimed an overjoyed Pop instantly running to her.

"Couldn´t have been worse."she grumbled and Pop looked confused.

"I´m sure it wasn´t that bad."he said cassualy.

"Depends on your definition of _bad_."she replied moodily.

"Where´s Amyas?"asked Pop looking behind them, seeing no one.

"He had to stay in Megacity with the team today."

That was only good thing about the day so far. Had he come with her, a murder would´ve occured perhaps on the train.

"Pop we´ll need some of these hose pipes too."called Chichi from behind the pipes in his hand.

"All right, I´ll go to Home-fix-it right away."he answered.

"You´d better hurry Mr Tofu, they´ll close up soon."said Phil checking his watch.

With a nod, Pop sprinted away leaving the teenagers alone.

"Jeez sis, you look horrible. Must´ve been very bad."commented Chichi, worry reflecting in his eyes as he approached, wiping his hands on a hankerchief before placing it in his back-pocket.

"You´ve no idea. I can´t thank you enough for the money you gave me."she said appretiatively.

"C´mon guys let´s sit down in the yard. I wanna hear what happened."said Phil and the others nodded.

"What did you do today, Billy?"asked Chichi.

"Went trough the most popular XB models, it was a complete bore."he sighed as all of them sat down at the table.

"I can imagine. I mean, you´ve seen one alarm you´ve seen ´em all."reasoned Phil.

"Not exactly. Some have different functions, some are triggered differently, some have different effects. And so on."explained Billy and Chichi looked puzzled.

"What´s the problem, then? I mean with so many functions and factors I´m sure there´s lots to learn and perhaps improve."

Billy sighed yet again.

"Yeah Chichi, but there´s _one_ importaint factor here – I find it highly uninteresting. Even more than I thought I would."

Both of the younger boys nodded in understanding.

"Well _I_ was anything than bored. Amy_ass_ had the entire team on the local dump sorting the trash. And all of them were happy as though we were digging for buried treasure or something."said Lola depressively.

"That´s funny. You smell really nice now."commented Billy in surprise.

"_That´s_ because I took 6 showers before I could finally get the stinch off. I swear I never used so much shower gel in a _week_."said Lola and the three boys looked at eachother.

"Anyway, Amyass said that tommorow we´re going to do something different to save Megacity from pollution. I can _hardly_ wait to see, what he´s cooked up thistime. But nevermind that for now. How´d you guys do on Starchy´s test?"she asked eyeing her brother.

"Oh...well I got most of the answers down, April´s tutoring really helped."said Chichi cassualy. Lola smiled a little at that.

"I hope that you´ll _thank_ her appropriately."she said pointedly.

"I already have."said Chichi and Lola´s eyes widened in surprise.

"_Could he have...?_"

"I´ve told her that she´s the best tutor I ever had."he said with a slight blush.

Lola repressed the urge to bang her head on the table. The blockhead JUST. DIDN´T. GET IT!

"Anyway, Chloe really helped me too. I would´ve never gotten question 15 down if she didn´t pass me that small paper."he commented.

He felt kinda guilty on the small cheating he´d done, but this was Starchy´s test and she would find any fault if she could.

"At least he was kind enough to let me copy it."said Phil cassualy ignoring the smirks of the older teens.

Suddenly with a loud screech there was a sound of a car stopping at the Tofu household. A few moments later Miles and Lily entered the yard. Both of them were very cheery. In fact, Lily was laughing her head off.

"Seriously Miles... where were you when you were supposed to learn to count in school?"she giggled.

"Out making _money_."he answered with a gesticulation sending Lily into another fit of giggles.

"And since... since when does 2 times 5 equal _25_?"she asked still giggling.

"C´mon Lil. You know how it goes. _Taxes_, _inflation_, _economy_ – its a cruel world out there."he said earnestly counting the three on his fingers.

Lily erupted with laughter litteraly falling on to her knees.

"What´s wrong with you two?"asked Lola, who was in no mood for games.

"Oh we were just discussing my _business_deals."said Miles cassualy before the two joined them at the table sending Lily into yet another fit of giggles and the others into outright confusion.

"Say, I´m kinda hungry. You guys wuldn´t happen to have some of that Herb recipe thing left?"asked Miles, before the two of them explained the day they had drawing laughs from all present.

...

Tuesday proved to be very different from what Lola expected. Amyas and the other fourteen members of their EPO team all in their green t-shirts have been assigned to intorduce several of Megacity´s top businessmen to recycling. Amyas and two of the members instantly angered several of them. Lola quickly took over, calmed the situation and was now translating the stands of both sides, feeling oddly in place.

"...and by doing this, it can be both profitable for all of you and also helping for the enviroment."she finished her speech and a small silence insued.

The businessmen looked from one to the other and started to talk among eachother in low voices.

"Woah, I´m amazed Lola. They´re actually thinking about it."said Christie, one of the four women in the fifteen member team excluding Lola of course, in a small amazed whisper.

Lola turned to the young woman not much older from her and whispered back.

"Don´t be so sure yet. They can still decide, that it´s not worth their investment."

Suddenly one of the businessmen cleared his throat and called for attention.

"Young lady, we have reached a decidion and you are right. However there would be a small problem with financing the recycling plant, even if the recycled material would be shipped to our factories."he said and some of the others nodded.

Lola took a moment and thought about it.

"Why not ask the town representatives to shoulder some of the costs with you? If the recycling plant is for the benefit of Megacity as a whole, I´m sure the mayor would be agreeable. It would also be able to provide jobs for both the construction and operating it, which the citizens would definitely welcome. This way, everyone has something to gain and the invested money would eventually return to everyone."

"I agree, with Miss Tofu on this. The investment has the potential to return perhaps even tenfold over the years."exclaimed one of the middle-aged businessmen.

"It´s all a matter of how we divide the investment."said another one thoughtfully.

"If all of us, the town included shoulder the cost equally, it would work."replied the youngest one among them.

"Then by all means, we have to take this up with the mayor. I have a meeting with him in two hours in fact. We can all go and state the case. The sooner the better I say."said a fat mustached businessman, gesturing to the others, who agreed.

"If we strike a good deal, this can be already concluded before news at 4. Not to mention the popularity we could all gain. Perhaps even new business oppoturnities. We would definitely be viewed positively in the public eye."said a thin, gray haired one to general agreement.

"We thank you for bringing this to our attention, Miss Tofu. You have my word, that the new recycling plant will have my priority."said the one, who was probably the most respected among them.

Amyas and some of the others hi-fived eachother as the group exited the building and were on their way to their headquarters in Megacity.

"This is amazing. They actually are going to ask the mayor and build the plant."said Joe, a brown haired man in his late twenties in complete ecstasy.

"And we have our Lola to thank for that."said Christie, patting Lola on her shoulder.

"Yeah. I can´t believe how well you worked this out. Those ideas you´ve given them. They actually liked them."exclaimed Tony, a short thin blackhaired man in his thirties.

"I can´t even express how proud I am of you, Lola."exclaimed Amyas before grabbing her in a bear-hug and spinning her in circles, drawing happy laughter from each of the members including Lola.

"Yup. A true Tofu."said Donna, a longhaired young woman in aprooval.

"You have no idea. She reminds me so much of her grandmother."said Jeremiah, a man in his fifties, who spent most of his working life in the EPO and worked under Iris Tofu many times.

Lola found herself blushing.

"You can´t be serious, Jeremiah."she said shyly.

"Oh, but I am, Lola. You have inhereted her small gift. You can make people listen and think about it. You really have that special personality, just like Iris."he said with a smile.

Her grandma Iris indeed possesed that special gift of making people listen and had a very stern, teacher-like personality at times. But she was also kind and wise. The only person however, who she never had much success with was ironicly her grandpa Noah, who drives her up the wall on a daily basis with his crackpot ideas. The thought of being compared to her grandmother however made Lola blush a deep shade of red.

"I can´t wait, when Lola joins our humble organization."exclaimed Dixie, a twentie year old blonde haired girl, who immediately hugged Lola with enthisiasm.

"Yeah, all the good it would do. Who knows, maybe we´ll be even able to make people use renewable sources instead of foolishly raping our planet."agreed Amyas, who was all worked up over the idea.

"Now, Amyas. Let´s not get ahead of ourselfs. One step at a time."said Dixie softly, releasing Lola and placing a hand on Amyas´ shoulder, who blushed and laughed sheepishly.

"You´re right."

"Say Amyas, you and Lola should head for the station. Your train will be departing in half an hour."said Jeremiah, who checked his watch.

"But we still have to write the report and send it to EPO hq."said Amyas.

"Don´t worry, Amyas. We´ll write it for you. Otherwise you two would have to wait for two more hours."said Dixie.

"You guys are the best."said Amyas as the others bade them farewell and resumed their walk to the Megacity headquarters. Lola and Amyas started to walk in the opposite direction.

"I´ll be glad when my van is fixed."said Amyas.

"Pop and Chichi are doing their best. It´ll be as good as new when they´re done. Then you can take Dixie someplace nice."said Lola with a sly look.

Amyas turned to her in alarm, his face red as a tomato.

"What... what are you talking about?"he stammered and Lola giggled.

"Oh, come on Amyas. I´ve seen the way you two look at eachother. Why don´t you ask her out?"asked Lola.

"You... you think she´d go out with me?"asked Amyas swiftly.

"Judging from the looks and small hints she´s been giving you, I´d say – YES."

Amyas´ eyes widened as if in revelation.

"But who should I go about this...?"he said as though to himself and Lola giggled again.

"While I can´t believe I am about to give dating tips to my _older_ cousin, I will be delighted to help you plan on getting the lady of your dreams, as we go home."

...

Billy´s day in contrast to Lola´s couldn´t be a duller one. He spent the majority of it in office looking over the latest XB-93 model and putting it together.

"_Sheesh, this would be more Chichi´s idea of a good time than mine._"he thought as he was helping one of his father´s collagues construct it.

"Hey son. How´s it going?"asked Titus happily as he entered the workshop office.

"Just _great_, Dad."said Billy in obvious boredom, but Titus took no notice of it.

"The kid has been a lot of help. I wouldn´t have done half of it without him. You must be proud Titus."the other man said in appretiation and Titus´s chest inflated in pure pride.

"He´s a Hubbub, George. A chip off the old block."he said clapping his son on the shoulder.

Billy felt slightly sick. Eventhough he was glad to make his father proud, the job itself was boring him to no end.

"_How in the world could I tell him the truth?_"he wondered as he noted his father´s happy look as he exited the office.

"I wish my own son would be like you. The boy has no interest in this business what-so-ever."said George sadly.

"And what does he do?"asked Billy with interest.

"He´s in that EPO organization."George answered sadly.

"That´s where Lola, my girlfriend is having her practice. How do you take it? That he chose something different for a career?"asked Billy now really interested.

"Well, it certainly didn´t please me at first. But he explained to me, that he would like to help all those around him and help making the world a better place. And as his father, as long as he´s happy with his choice, I stand behind him."he finished and noted Billy´s thoughtfull look.

"Look kiddo. I can now see clearly, that you´re very much like him. Why don´t you just tell your old man?"he asked.

"It´s not that simple. You´ve seen how happy he is with this. I just can´t take it from him."Billy replied with a sigh.

George smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You´re a good kid, Billy. But just tell him. He will have to come to terms with it sooner or later. He´s your father, but you can´t place his happiness above yours. This is your life and he should stand behind your decidions."said George sagely and Billy´s thoughts went wild again.

"The real question is, what would you _like_ to do."

Billy thought long about it and sighed once more.

"I don´t know. But certainly not this."he said quietly.

Suddenly Titus burst into the room.

"We have an emergency. The alarm system in the pet shop has gone haywire."

"I still have to put together these XBs."said George gesturing to the number of unfinished alarms.

"I´ll go with him. I need to stretch my legs anyway."said Billy and both older men nodded.

"Good idea, son. At least you can see your old man in action."said Titus before exiting.

"Just remember, Billy. _Tell him_. Sooner rather than later."advised George.

Billy murmured his thanks before following his father out the door.

It took only a few minutes before the two reached Beauvillage´s pet shop. The alarm in there was emiting a loud screeching noise, which drove the animals in there as well as the people around the shop crazy.

In a swift motion, Titus disabled the system.

"Ha. A professional in action."he said happily before starting to work on the alarm.

"Thank God you´re here Mr Hubbub. It was begining to get unbearable. Especially on top of everything else going on."said the owner.

"What d´you mean Mr Outwild?"asked Billy before taking a small look around and noticing the animals.

With a gasp he kneeled before a cage, that held several guinea pigs, all of which were curled up in a ball and trembling. So were the other animals in their dens and cages. He also noticed, that some of the fishes in their aquariums were already dead.

"During the morning, they´ve turned like this. I have absolutely no idea what could´ve caused this."said Mr Outwild hopelessly.

"Have you called the vet?"asked Billy swiftly.

"I have. But it seems, that the Megacity´s vet clinic has their hands full as well. Some sort of epidemic has struck. Until they´ve cleared that up, I have no choice but to wait."said Outwild sadly.

"The hell you do."said Billy standing up swiftly and reaching into his pocket for his phone.

Calling a number he tapped the ground with his foot nervously, before the other line answered.

"Chichi, are you home? The animals in the pet shop are all sick. Same sickness that we treated."he said urgently.

"_ I know Billy. Several of our and your classmates brought their pets here over the course of the day, and some are still bringing them now. It seems that the mystery epidemic has struck again. I´m going with Miles to get the ingredients for the herb recipe right now._"

"Can we bring the pets from here to your house? Or will they have to be treated here?"asked Billy and he heared Chichi sigh.

"_Bring them here. We will find the room for them somehow._"

Billy´s face looked relieved somewhat.

"Thanks Chichi. I´ll see you at your house."he said before ending the call.

He turned quickly to Outwild.

"D´you have a car?"

Outwild nodded.

"Than lets load every animal, that´s sick and get them to the Tofu house pronto."he said in a commanding voice and Outwild nodding went into the backside of the store to get the car.

Billy looked at a small kitten which mewed painfully.

"Don´t worry. It´ll be ok. Help is on the way."he said in a soothing voice, strocking its fur as the kitten licked his hand.

"Billy. Come help me with this."called Titus from the alarm box just as Outwild came back in and the two started to swiftly take the cages into the backside.

"What are you doing Billy?"asked Titus confusedly.

"No time to explain, Dad. These animals need help."

...


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Lola and Amyas arrived in Beauvillage in good spirits, while discussing on his plan to take Dixie out.

"Just be yourself, Amyas and you´ll do fine."said Lola as the two were walking the street in the Tofu´s neighbourhood.

"I can´t thank you enough, Lola."said Amyas in amazement.

"Its no problem Amyas."said Lola waving it off.

Suddenly a blue van flew past them, sending their hair flying.

"_Miles_. How many times must I tell him, not to drive like a lunatic."growled Lola as the van stopped at their house.

"Miles? As in Michael Miles?"asked Amyas as the van´s door opened.

Chichi and Miles jumped out of the van and instantly opened the backdoor and started to grab giant sacks that were in there.

"Miles! What did I say about driving trough Beauvillage so fast?"scolded Lola as soon as the pair reached the dynamic duo, while taking a small note that she did indeed sound like her grandmother now.

"The situation called for it, Lola. No time to explain."said Chichi swiftly as they turned to the house.

Lola and Amyas looked at eachother before following them into the house gasping as soon as they entered. The house was once more cramped full of small cages and dens all of which held one of the pets. Mom, Pop, Buba, April and Phil were running about from one pet to the other – a complete pandemonium.

"We brought the herbs Mom."said Chichi.

"Thank you little chimpmunk. Just let it down near the sink. I´ll get the herb recipe going right away."said Mom, swiftly going over to the stove, which held a large pot which was cooking.

"We´ll go get the rest of the stuff, but please remember to save some of that juicy stuff for me."said Miles as he and Chichi let down the sacks near the sink.

"This is no time to think about your stomach, Miles."exclaimed Chichi before the two exited the house.

"What´s going on here?"exclaimed Amyas.

"Oh no its back."said Lola as the knelt next to one of the pets.

"Yes, and it seems to be getting worse."

Lola spun to the source of the voice, knowing it so well by now. Her boyfriend was just returning from the yard, carrying a giant bowl which had several tubes in it.

"Its a catastrophe. Mr Outwild even said, that whatever is going on here is happening in Megacity too."said Billy as he and Lola exchanged their greeting kisses.

"How long have you guys been here?"asked Lola.

"Over two hours. We really had our hands full."said April.

"We have to figure out what causes this."exclaimed Phil.

"It seems to be food poisoning."said Buba.

"But how could be all these pets poisoned? Wouldn´t people be affected as well?"wondered Phil.

"I am going to find out. Me, Phil, Chichi and Miles will go around town as soon as these are taken care of."said Billy with a determined look.

"We will help you too."said Lola.

"The EPO will not stand and do nothing."exclaimed Amyas.

And so, an hour later the group split into teams of two and went to track any leads into this mystery. Lola with Billy, Chichi with April, Phil with Miles and Amyas on his own.

However they were not alone in this. The brotherhood of the Wise were also on the trail.

"So what d´you think could´ve caused this epidemic."asked Nick, his blue sunglasses on, Tex and Archie behind him, Archie writing down everything into the notepad he was given by Wiseman and Tex recording everything trough a large microphone, photo camera around his neck.

Their classmates looked from one to the other. Their class always met on the Beauvillage´s playground. So the three members of the brotherhood took the oppoturnity.

"Are you guys trying to be reporters?"asked Emily curiously.

"We´re detective Wiseman´s personal asistants."exclaimed Tex who found the question insulting.

"Yeah. He and us are the Brotherhood of the Wise."exclaimed Archie.

Their classmates looked at eachother. Chloe stiffled her giggles and Oliver snorted in humor.

"Wierd name. But since you three are helping detective Wiseman it can´t hurt, then."said Marion.

The trio interviewed their classmates, but hadn´t learnt much aside from the fact, that they brought their sick pets to the Tofu´s vet station and that Miles, Billy, April and Phil are helping them. Growing frustrated Nick paced for a second, as the other teens looked on.

"Ah. Speak of the devil."said Archie pointing to the playground entrance.

Chichi and April were approaching.

"AHA! The suspect has arrived. Ready to give yourself up, Tofu?"exclaimed Tex.

Chichi quirked his eyebrow and snorted a laugh at the sight of the sunglasses.

"What the hell are you talking about."he said calmly.

Nick wanted to say something but was cut off by Chloe who rushed to the newcomers.

"Chichi, April how´s Snowball? Is she all right?"she asked desperately.

"She´s still sick, Chloe but we´re doing all we can at the moment."said April as they joined the small circle.

"We are convinced, they are all suffering from food poisoning."said Chichi drawing a collective gasp from all.

"We need to know, what could´ve caused it. What have you given your pets in the last 24 hours?"

Chichi´s question was met with a thoughtfull silence.

"Hey, we´re the ones asking questions here!"exclaimed Archie.

"Out of what position, if I may ask. If I recall correctly, neighter of you is helping the animals."said April.

"We are helping. Helping detective Wiseman. We´re the brotherhood of the Wise."said Tex proudly.

Chichi and April looked at eachother and a second later erupted in hilarious laughter.

"Stop laughing!"exclaimed Archie.

"Yeah, what´s so funny?"shouted Tex.

"...the Wise they say... "chortled Chichi as Nick approached them.

"...that´s the stupidest thing I ever heared..."giggled April as Nick stopped ahead of her.

"No one makes fun of the Brotherhood of the Wise."he growled, his bullying blood boiling, teeth bared and eyes burning in anger under his sunglasses.

Chichi sobered instantly, knowing Nick by now. But he didn´t expect him actualy try to do what he suspected he might do. But he did. He raised his hand and tried to slap April. Before he could do so however, Chichi grabbed his hand just centimeters from April´s cheek and the two started to fight. The fight lasted for a few seconds, as several punches were traded Chichi delivered a strong one in Nick´s stomache. As Nick doubled over, Chichi proceeded to pin him to the ground, holding his elbowed against his neck, adding pressure to his windpipe.

"YOUR MOTHER NEVER TAUGHT YOU NOT TO HIT A GIRL?"he roared as he was slowly adding more pressure and Nick was starting to choke.

Tex and Archie made to go an help him, but were stopped by Liam and Oliver, who didn´t want the fight to continue.

"LISTEN TO ME, NICK! IF I _EVER_ SEE YOU TRY AND LAY A FINGER ON APRIL AGAIN, I´LL SEND YOU INTO THE HOSPITAL! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"yelled Chichi, adding more pressure to Nick´s windpipe making sure that he got the point.

"CHICHI! THAT´S ENOUGH!"screamed April, quickly grabbing Chichi´s shoulder and pulled him back, for Nick was starting to turn blue.

As soon as Chichi released him, Nick started to gasp for air and spat out some blood. April kept a firm hold on Chichi´s arm. Tex and Archie rushed to Nick´s side.

"Get that asshole out of my sight!"commanded Chichi menacingly.

The two turned, but decided to comply. They didn´t want to fight Chichi and Oliver looked ready to join in too.

"You wait... I´ll get you for this, Tofu."gasped Nick in a strained voice, as he was still gasping for air, before the trio exited the playground.

"Chichi, you´re bleeding."exclaimed Chloe.

It was true. Nick got a lucky shot and hit his nose, which was now oozing blood like crazy.

April quickly made him sit down on a bench and took a hankerchief and started to apply it to his nose.

"Chichi, you didn´t have to fight him."she said quietly as she scanned the briuses on his face.

"No way in hell I´m letting that asshole lay a finger on you. Not when I´m around."said Chichi, his voice slightly higher due to the hankerchief on his nose.

"My hero."said April in a sweet voice before kissing him on the forehead.

Chichi´s face went completly red, as April giggled. The boys smiled and chuckled, the girls let out a few "Awws" and Chloe exclaimed "How cute." before winking at April, who giggled happily as Chichi tried to regain his composure.

"Ok... asshole brotherhood aside now, I need to know what have you fed your pets over the last day. Whatever is causing the food poisoning must be in the food."

...

"So your investigation failed."said Wiseman thoughtfully as the trio explained what had happened.

"If the soy-brain hadn´t beaten Nick, we could´ve gotten more information."said Archie as he applied an ice-pack to Nick´s face, which was bruised badly from one of Chichi´s numerous punches.

"Young Chichi is obviously trying to cover up his actions."murmured Wiseman.

The trio didn´t bother to tell Wiseman exactly why Nick and Chichi fought.

"Nevermind my brothers. We can extract information in another way."

Wiseman moved to his table and dialed a number on the phone.

"Lieutenant, I order you and your men to round up the owners of the sick pets. Yes among the police too. I want them in the interrogation room before the end of the day."

Ending the call, he turned to the younger trio, who smiled broadly.

"You will help me interrogate. We will find out everything we can."

And so over the course of the day, they spent time interogating many adult people at once. Archie was busy writing everything down, while Tex served coffee and snacks, slipping on the floor as he brought in the trail and landing on the ground with the hot coffee spilling over him. Nick and Wiseman asked numerous questions about the mysterious sickness and the Tofu´s vet station.

"Those poor people suspect nothing at all. How could the Tofus poison the pets though."wondered Wiseman as they went over the data from the interrogation.

He looked over on his bulletin-board, which had several pictures of the Tofu house and pictures of Pop and Chichi building the cages, or photos of the others feeding the animals.

"It must be that stuff they´re feeding them."said Archie pointed out as he looked at what he´d written down.

"This ´_Herb recipe_´ of theirs. It has to be it."

Wiseman turned to them.

"That´s it! Perfect insight ..."he checked the names written on his hand.

"...Archie. We are going to the Tofu house."

...

"So it must be in the pet food."Chichi explained as everyone was sitting in the kitchen.

"That explains, why many other pets are healthy. Like Cherie´s cat, as I hear she only feeds her the finest meat."said Billy scratching his head, happy that they were getting somewhere.

"So what do we do now?"asked Lily, who came as soon as she arrived home an hour ago.

"D´you think we could have the pet food analyzed to find out exactly what´s wrong with it?"asked April.

"If we are to solve this, we probably have to."said Lola, sitting next to Billy.

"I... I can call Swallowsky in Megacity... call in a small favour. The old dude ows me in any case."said Miles as he raised his face from the pot of the Herb recipe, licking his lips.

"That´s perfect. You´re the best, Miles."exclaimed Lily and Phil who was sitting next to her nodded.

"By the way, I am happy that you like our Herb recipe, Miles."giggled Mom as Miles dug into the pot once more.

"Yeah... I have to thank you for this, Mom Tofu. This stuff is amazing. And at least I´ll be healthy."he said pointing to himself and Chichi chuckled.

"With the number of cigarettes you smoke every day, I very much doubt that."

The gang all laughed.

"In the meantime, people should be informed that they should only feed natural products to the pets who are still healthy."commented Pop.

"Then we have to trace the factory which is making this poison. And make them pay dearly for hurting our beloved little friends."said Amyas all fired up.

"The EPO will certainly be of much help in this."commented Buba.

"All that´s left is to go buy the pet food."said Lola.

"I´m sure Mr Outwild will happily give us some of his. He wants the situation resolved as much as everyone does."said Billy.

"That is pleasant to hear."came a voice from the newly opened front door.

Detective Wiseman and the brainless trio were standing in it.

"Get that idiotic asshole out of our house, Wiseman before I do it myself."growled Chichi pointing to Nick as he stood up.

"Chichi, no!"warned April as she quickly chaught his arm.

Lola, Lily, Phil, Billy and Miles looked at them curiously.

"Later."said Chichi quietly before returneing his gaze at the uninvited visitors.

"I would like to see you try, Tofu."sneered Nick.

"If you want to end up in the hospital that badly, far be it for me to dissapoint."he said menacingly.

Billy swiftly held Chichi´s other hand firmly, before he could leap across the table.

"What is going on here?"asked Pop looking from one side to the other.

"We have reached a small conclusion regarding the pet case."said Wiseman.

"Oh that is great, detective. We have solved the puzzle and found that the pet food sold in Beauvillage´s stores is the cause of the food poisoning."said Mom happily.

Wiseman and the trio looked extremely stricken.

"You mean its not that green stuff?"exclaimed Wiseman pointing to the pot on the stove.

Everyone laughed.

"Dude, if it really were poison would I be eating it?"asked Miles with a happy smile, his face smirched in the green substance.

"Who knows how _your_ organism works, criminal."said Wiseman as though defending his point.

"He´s been eating it since Sunday. He would´ve surely be sick by now if it was the cause of food poisoning."said Lily defending Miles staunchly.

"That´s just our Herb recipe detective. Its full of vitamins and soothes the digestive system."explained Mom.

"You can have some of it too, detective. Its really good."said Buba as she moved towards Miles and reached out her hand for the pot.

Miles however moved the pot away from her and pouted like a 5 year old child.

"No way! _Mine_! This juicy stuff is only mine."he said as though it would kill him to separate from it.

This drew laughs from Billy, Lily, Phil, April, Mom, Amyas, Pop and Buba, while the brotherhood looked bewildered.

"Oh for crying out loud, Miles! Stop acting like a child and hand it over!"commanded Lola in exaspiration.

Miles fixed her with a look and shook his head defiantly in a child-like manner, drawing another round of laughter, to which even Chichi joined in.

"Now, Michael, hand it over and I will make you another batch right away."said Buba softly as though explaining something to a little boy.

Miles´ face turned to her slightly and he fixed Buba with a suspitious stare still pouting.

"You promise?"he asked childishly once more drawing laughter.

"Yes Michael. I promise."said Buba between her giggles.

Miles´ face suddenly sported the brightest smile as he hurried towards Wiseman handing him the half-eaten pot.

"Here ya go, Wisey-old boy. Enjoy it."he exclaimed jovially clapping Wiseman on the shoulder nearly knocking the pot from his hands.

The others ended up in a fit of laughter. Lily even lay her head on the table shaking in uncontrollable giggles. Even Lola laughed begrudgingly.

"You are terrible, Miles. Seriously."she giggled shaking her head.

"But its very adorable."said Lily between the giggles.

Miles laughed sheepishly and blushed.

"Aww, Lil. You´re making me blush."he said to her and now it was Lily´s turn in blushing.

"Oh brother."muttered Lola.

"Well seňor detective. Anything else?"asked Miles.

Wiseman looked very stricken and his three cohorts were looking at him, expecting his orders.

"Yes... yes... we will have that tested... and we´ll see. But mark my words, any evidence of foul-play and I´ll be there."he said exiting the house.

"Well. Now that that is over with, lets get to our tasks."said Amyas.

"But first... Buba, you promised."said Miles with a pout again.

"All right, come with me my young lamb. You can help me cook it."said Buba warmly and Miles nodded smilingly.

"You gotta be kidding."murmured Lola holding a hand to her forehead.

"Let´s go to the yard. We will explain what happened."said April.

Nodding the teens exited the kitchen.

...


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

As the sun rose over Beauvillage, Cracker was still perched on the fence in the yard. He opened his eyes and shook his head. But before he could crow and signal the new day a way louder voice was heared across the neighbour hood and Cracker fell off the fence in shock.

"**WHAAAT?**"

Chichi and Miles, busy working in the yard loading some of the pet food that Mr Outwild had given them yesterday, turned to the source of the noise – the Hubbub household.

"Look, Dad this is way more importaint."said Billy as he exited the house, Titus a second behind him.

"But...but Billy..."stammered Titus.

"Dad, I´m going and that´s that."said Billy firmly before jumping over the fence that separated the Hubbub´s yard from the Tofu´s.

"Are you guys ready?"he asked as soon as he reached the pair.

"Yup. We can head out."said Miles as he closed the van´s backdoor.

"Then there´s no time to waste."said Billy as he jumped into the van.

Titus looked on in shock as Chichi and Miles boarded the van as well and seconds later the van sped towards their destination.

"I see that your Dad didn´t take it very well."said Chichi as he looked from the passanger-seat to Billy, who was seated behind Miles.

"No. But I explained to him that this needs to be done."he said, the conversation with his father still fresh in his mind.

Yesterday he insisted on accompanying Chichi and Miles to the Megacity´s analyst, deciding that the pet case was more importaint than piecing together some alarm. Indeed he felt, that the pet case needs to be solved immediatly and he wouldn´t be able to live with himself, if he didn´t see to it personally.

"Y´know Billy, the way I´ve seen it over the days, you would´ve made a terrific pet-vet."said Miles earnestly.

Billy´s eyes opened wide.

"D´you really think so?"he asked uncertainly.

"Why not? I mean you love animals and from what I´ve seen, you would´ve definitely be a good one."said Chichi smilingly.

Billy was shocked for a few moments. He _did_ love animals and liked to help them out, but...

"_Could it be...? Its way better than alarms in any rate_."he pondered as Miles turned on the freeway and stepped on it.

"Damn it, Miles. Not so fast!"exclaimed Chichi.

"No time to lose Chich. Our little friends are counting on us!"

Billy´s eyes widened once more. And in that moment, he made up his mind.

"He´s right, Chichi. Its time to get to the bottom of this. _You´ve_ been excused from school exactly for the same reason."he said placing a hand on Chichi´s shoulder who nodded.

Fifteen minutes later, they reached Megacity. Miles however made a point in stopping in one place, that not even Chichi did know of. Telling them to wait for him, he jumped out of the van and moments later returned with a bottle of some alcohol they didn´t recodnize. Noticing their questioning looks he chuckled.

"It´s an offering. In accordance with the tradition of the one we´re going after."

The two looked at eachother in puzzlement, wondering just who in the earth are they going after.

Moments later the van came to a stop at a large building situated on top of a clearing that oversaw Megacity. On the left side of the building was a medium-sized sighn that read – MEGACITY REASEARCH FACILITY.

"Aaand here we are."said Miles before exiting the van.

Chichi and Billy jumped out too and instantly took out some of the food Mr Outwild had given them.

Following Miles into the building, the trio stopped at a reception, after which stood a young blonde woman, wearing glasses and dressed in a white lab coat who smiled upon seeing them.

"Nice to see you again Miles. Do you have an appointment?"she asked politedly, eying Miles and the two boys.

"Sure Gabby, we´re here after old Raph."he said pleasantly.

She gave a small giggle and directed them to the third floor.

"Who´s this man, we´re going after, Miles?"asked Billy.

"An old aqquaitance. We know eachother for five years. In fact, since when me and Roger were on _our _practice from school here."

The two boys looked at him.

"You´ve had your practice _here_?"asked Chichi completly astounded.

"You got it genius-boy. Oh those were the days."said Miles in reminiscence.

"What school did you take after the practice?"asked Billy curiously.

"None. I decided I´d rather be out making _greed_, than sitting in some collage with empty pockets."said Miles off-handedly.

"And Roger?"asked Chichi in equal curiosity.

"He spent a year in collage. Didn´t like it, so he dropped out. For a time we worked together, until he got the money to realize his dream."

"Which was...?"asked Billy.

"His own club, of course. I mean he dreamed about it eversince we were 16. He was an ace in chemistry by the way and had excellent marks, even enough to make it to the top of the class had he tried. But he was always more fond of music and nightlife. In the end he decided to follow his dream rather than confide himself to some lab."

Billy was silent for a while as he mulled it over.

"And how´d his parents take it?"he asked quietly.

"Well his mother wasn´t very happy and the two argued for a while, but in the end she stood by his decidion. Just like his father."

Billy´s face sported a thoughtfull look, which Chichi took note of.

"Look, Billy..."

Suddenly a loud explosion came from the offices ahead of them.

"_Jááj! Ci Boha! Do svatoho!_"came a loud male voice and the three immediatly dashed to the source.

In one of the offices was an old man in a white lab coat, which was just like the working table on fire.

Chichi didn´t waste a moment. Dropping the pet food he grabbed the fire-extinguisher and quickly came to help. Releasing a foamy stream, Chichi sprayed on the poor man´s coat sending him to the ground, then onto the table. In less than a few moments the fire was out for good.

"Thanks for that."said the man, who was getting up from the ground. He was a tall man, with a friendly face, which sported a long white beard and matching hair which were only on his sides leaving the rest of his head bald.

"Yo, Raph."said Miles in greeting.

"Miles. Thank God you guys showed up in time."he said earnestly.

"What happened here?"asked Billy, eyeing the damaged table.

"Oh, I was making a new type of fuel. But it seems, that the hydragate level was way too high. _Joj! Poraželo aj robotu!_"he finished, exclaiming in a rapid phrase, that neither of the others understood as he approached the table scrowling.

"Guys, allow me to introduce professor Raphael Swallowsky."said Miles gesturing to the elder man.

Swallowsky nodded and approached them.

"These are my friends – Billy Hubbub and Chichi Tofu."said Miles gesturing towards them.

Swallowsky´s eyes went wide as he looked at Miles.

"_Co ši šaľeny?_ _The_ Chichi Tofu?"he exclaimed, before grabbing Chichi´s shand shaking it with vigour.

"Pleased to meet you, m´boy. I heared a lot about you."

Chichi looked very surprised.

"Heh, James Strongdome and the other Megacity detectives use the facility for their own investigations more times than neccessary."explained Miles with a grin.

"Tell me about it. _Fízli_."said Swallowsky shaking his head before continuing.  
"Shark uses this place like it were his second home. I do stuff for them at least once a week. I also researched the drug, that Flint and his idiots made. That was some real nasty stuff. Addictive like hell. You have no idea how many youngsters you´ve saved by stopping him."said Swallowsky in praise and Chichi´s cheeks went red.

"I... I didn´t do it all alone, you know."he said in embarressment.

"Maybe not. But believe me, you´ve done a very good thing indeed."he said, before releasing Chichi´s hand, who was still blushing heavily.

"Anyway Raph, we need your help."said Miles.

"Ah, yes. The thing you called me about. You have some of the food you need researching?"

Billy gestured to both the food on his shoulder and the one that Chichi dropped to the ground.

"We need an analysis ASAP."said Billy.

"_Ošaľeli sce?_ A thing like that takes at least a week for me to do."said Swallowski.

Miles only grinned and brought out the bottle he procured earlier.

"Will this help, Raph?"asked Miles grinning happily.

Swallowsky immediatly grabbed the bottle with an extremely happy expression on his face.

"_Šľivovica!_"he exclaimed happily.

"And all of it for you."added Miles happily.

"Well why didn´t you say so in the first place? I´ll get right on it! Boys, bring that food over to that table."he said gesturing to the lab table on the far side.

Billy and Chichi looked at eachother in bewilderment while Miles chuckled to himself.

"Works everytime."

...

Lily once more found herself overlooking the Stony moutain´s cliffs bored out of her mind. The excavation was going as planned and several fossils were already extracted from the ground. Her mother was ecsastic like the others – Digdeep was, but Lily found herself completly uninterested. Instead she took a small walk and relaxed.

"_Now I´m completly sure NOT to be an archeologist._"she thought.

She always thought that being an archeologist would be interesting and adventure-filled. But this excavation was purely dull. She had more exciting time with Miles, even if they were only driving trough towns.

Lily´s heart sped at the very thought of Miles. She was starting to get that all too familiar feeling.

"_No way. Am I possibly...?_"she thought wildly.  
Indeed, she remembered the feelings she was getting, when the girls in her class talked so longingly about Miles. They were the feelings of jelaousy. Also she remembered having an argument with Mary two weeks ago, when she bad-mouthed him. And after everything regarding the drug incident came out and Miles was hailed as a hero together with Chichi, those feelings of jealousy only deepened as the girls dreamt over having an affair with him. There, Lily also felt a bit smug at knowing Miles better than those girls ever could. That Miles concidered _her_ a friend and didn´t even stop at any of them.

She liked Miles, well he was very hard not to like. He was strong, clever, independant and funny. He also had a good heart. Not to mention a very open one. She remembered all the tales he recounted to her. The many adventures he had with his friends, with Chichi too, in his endless pursuit of money. It seems that Miles, much like Chichi always found something to occupy him. Always going somewhere, doing something, meeting new people, getting to know interesting places, getting into different situations, and all in all - living a wild life. She found herself longing for just such adventures.

She closed her eyes and sighed dreamily for a while. Instinctivelly she reached into her small backpack and took out a large notebook and a pen.

"_Well, its time to continue _**my **_little adventure._"she said to herself, before she sat down and began to write.

...

Deep in Megacity Lola, Amyas and their EPO team were having a small adventure of their own. Since the two arrived in the morning, the team went to interview the vet stations in town and gathered many information to present to the authorities. Spliting up into teams of three, (plus Jeremiah went on his own) Lola ended up partnered with her cousin and Dixie. The three got a hot tip from one of the vets on the origin of the pet food and traced it to one of Megacity´s local companies. Amyas went in about fifteen minutes ago and the two girls were left standing at the gate.

"What´s taking him so long."said Dixie in a worried voice.

"I´m sure he´s fine, Dixie. You don´t have to worry so much."said Lola in a calming voice.

"How can I not worry, Lola? Who knows what those _criminals_ might do to my poor Amyas?"fretted Dixie, walking from side to side.

"_Your_ Amyas?"asked Lola slyly.

Dixie instantly blushed a deep red.

"Well...I..."she stammered unsure what to say to Amyas´ cousin.

"Its fine, Dixie. I´ve already figured it out. You like Amyas."said Lola once more in a calming voice.

"Not just like, Lola. I _love_ him."said Dixie still blushing heavily.

"Since when?"asked Lola with a smile.

"A year or so. I mean I´ve been with the EPO for almost two, but I was stationed in Westlorn before I was transferred into Amyas´ team in Middletown."she said and sighed.

"But I guess he just likes me as a friend."she said sadly.

Lola thought about it. She knew she shouldn´t say anything until Amyas makes his move, but seeing the sad look on Dixie´s face reminded her a bit of April when she´s unsuccessfull with Chichi.

"That´s not true, Dixie. I´ve had a conversation with him about it. Believe me, Amyas likes you too, but he´s just too shy to say anything."

Dixie looked completly stunned for a moment.

"Are..are you sure, Lola?"she asked.

"Positive. In fact, I´ve given him some tips yesterday. I also wanted to be quiet about it, until he put them in action soon, so you don´t have this from me, ok?"said Lola.

Dixie was silent for a second, until she positively beamed, let out a squeal and embraced Lola tightly.

"Oh Lola, you don´t know how happy I am!"she squealed.

Lola returned the hug and the pair giggled.

"But remember..."she started, when Dixie let go of her.

"You didn´t tell me a thing. I´ll just have to be patient now."she said as happy as a child would be, when finding out about its Christmas present.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the front door. A very large and muscular security guard was "escorting" Amyas outside.

"The guy´s a crook I´m telling you. Ouch!"shouted Amyas before he was thrown onto the pavement landing painfully on his belly.

"Amyas!"exclaimed Dixie before rushing to his side with Lola close at hand.

"And don´t let me catch you here again."said the guard in a threatening voice.

"Was there any need for violence?"asked Lola, but the guard just huffed and pointed at Amyas.

"You heared the boss. You and your _kind_ are not to take one step in the compound."he said agressively, before slaming the bars on the gateway shut and returning into the building.

"Are you hurt? What happened?"asked Dixie franticly helping him get back on his feet.

"I´ve tried to explain to their boss, that the ingredients they´re using are harming the animals and it all went downhill from there. The guy even said, that he doesn´t give a damn about animals, all he wants is profit. And then he assigned that guy to throw me out."he explained and Lola sighed.

"I´ve _told_ you, that it´s unwise to rush in there like that. And _this_ is the result."she chastized once more reminding herself of her grandmother.

"Still it was very bad of them to man-hanle him like that. You could´ve been seriously hurt by that fall."said Dixie before she started to check him over for any injuries, with Amyas blushing heavily.

Lola was watching the two with a small smile on her face until she felt her phone ringing in her pocket.

"_Lola, we got the analysis down. We´re having all the details printed out in a report, where are you?_"asked her boyfriend´s voice.

"At the gates of the company that produces that garbage. But I think its pretty much pointless of dealing with them here."she said.

"_Then we have to meet somewhere and get everything together before we can pass it to the authorities._"said Billy.

"Lets meet at the EPO headquarters here in Megacity, its..."

Before she could finish however a loud laughter was heared from Billy´s side.

"What´s going on in there?"asked Lola and she heared a note of hesitation from Billy.

"_Well... Chichi is getting a bit friendly with the professor, that´s all._"he said with a small chuckle.

Lola was speechless for a moment, wondering just what in the world has her brother gotten himself into again.

...

After meeting in the EPO headquarters, the group went trough every single piece of information they amassed, before calling several authorities, including the police, animal protection movement and several others. As all of those were assembled at the headquarters´ gates, Miles remarked that things were about to get really interesting.

And indeed it did. Over the course of the next few hours, the authorities acompanied by the EPO team went into the company and closed it down, having more than enough evidence to do so anyway. By looking over their shipment files they were able to inform their custumers of the nature of the products. Then the press was called and everything was on TV – right on news at 4.

"_Titus!_ Titus, come and look at this!"exclaimed Beth from the Hubbub living room.

"_Now_ what?"grumbled Titus moodily.

He was in a really grumpy mood since the morning conversation with his son. As he looked on the TV, there was Lola, Chichi, Miles, Amyas and...

"_Billy!_ What´s he doing there?"exclaimed Titus who was in shock again.

**His** son, on the news?

"_...and the Runcor company has been held responsible for the unhealthy pet food that caused the illness that plagued several cities including Megacity and Beauvillage. In fact several of these young people behind me do not hold the fate of the animals so lightly like the Runcor company seems to. Immediatly responding to the illness, these young people along with members of the Enviroment Protection Organization have investigated and seen to apprehending the purpitrators._"said the reporter gesturing to them.

"_I am standing with a member of the Enviroment Protection Organization, Amyas Tofu. Do tell us, just how you came to unravel this horrid case._"

The reporter gave the microphone to Amyas.

"_Well, my cousin Lola, who is practicing in our organization has alerted the team to the pet crisis in Beauvillage. She, her family and friends have taken it upon themselfs to help the animals, since Megacity – the nearest vet station had a crisis of their own._"

The reporter turned towards Billy.

"_Is that true? You helped the animals too?_"he asked.

"_Yes. Me like my friends decided to help all the poor pets that were sick and unwell. Since the Tofu family have experience with animals, we worked together, healing the town´s animals and investigating the source of the illness, determined to stop it. Enlisting the help of Megacity´s head chemical analyst Raphael Swallowsky we procured enough evidence to close down the Runcor company and insure that pets all over the country would not be endangered by their polluted products ever again._"said Billy in a firm, official voice.

"Titus! They stopped it!"exclaimed Beth excitedly.

Titus was looking on the screen completly stunned as the reporter passed the microphone to Lola and Chichi, who answered the questions together.

"That´s my boy! He´s a hero! Just like the rest of them!"screamed Beth in complete delight.

Titus looked one last look at the group behind the reporter and sat down.

"_Dad! I _want _to help these poor animals! Can´t you see? This is way more importaint than any alarm! They are living, breathing creatures and deserve to be treated with as much respect as people! And whenever I see some animal in pain, I will be there to help them!_"his son´s words, that he said to him only this morning were once more fresh in Titus´ mind. Looking again at his son on the TV screen, seeing the determined look on his face, Titus was starting to piece it together. He remembered the miserable look on his face when he was in his work putting together alarms – so in contrast to the lively, firm look on the screen. In that moment Titus understood. But it couldn´t stop the increbile feeling of sadness. All the dreams he had, all those hopes, all those visions of him and Billy servicing the new XBs, all were gone. He got up from the chair, his expression haunted as he started to exit the room.

"Titie? Where are you going?"asked Beth in concern.

"Out! I need some time alone."he said in a low lifeless voice.

...

As the sun nearly set on Beauvillage, Miles´ van was approaching the Tofu household. However they were in for a surprise. Almost fifty or so people were standing at the gate and as the van approached they sprang into applause.

"Damn! Looks like news travels fast on national TV."exclaimed Miles happily.

As Lola, Chichi, Miles and Billy exited the van the cheers and applauses went even wilder and the people immediatly sprang to them.

"I can´t thank you enough!"exclaimed one of the middle-aged women, shaking Billy´s hand.

"You guys were terrific, Chichi! The way you got those crooks arrested!"exclaimed Chloe, kissing Chichi on the cheek once again.

"Our pets are safe and sound thanks to you!"screamed one of the elder men and the crowd went wild.

"Yes Yes Yes! That´s us! And in gratitude for the honorable service we´ve provided, perhaps you all could spare some change."exclaimed Miles, while procuring a pure white hat from the van gesturing towards it with a large smile.

"MILES!"screamed both Chichi and Lola, but too late.

The people searched trough their pockets and started to give Miles any ammount of coins or even bills into the hat.

"C´mon Lola, Miles has these guys occupied. Let´s just get inside."said Chichi sighing and pushing his sister inside, who looked ready to argue.

"Yes, let´s go home Lola."said Billy and all three entered the house, while Miles smiling and throwing happy commentaries left and right was still scoring cash from the people, while entertaining them at the same time, judging by the many happy and humorous laughs that were heared from the crowd.

"LOLA! CHICHI! BILLY!"screamed four voices as soon as the doors closed.

Instantly Mom, Pop, Buba and Beth rushed to them and started to embrace each of them tightly.

"Oh my little hero! I can´t even say how proud I am!"exclaimed Beth hugging her son affectionately.

"My precious dandylion! I always knew you´d be great in this work!"cried Pop, hugging Lola tightly.

"My little chimpmunk! I can´t even imagine all the animals you´ve saved."cried Mom cradling Chichi gently.

"I can´t even say, how happy I am that you children are such beautyfull treasures!"exclaimed Buba embracing all three of them once their respective parents let go of them.

"Buba, Mom, Pop, Mrs Hubbub..."started Chichi.

"For the last time - its _Beth_, Chichi and say no more. We saw everything on the news at 4. Violet was right, you saved countless of pets from being poisoned and perhaps even worse..."started Beth, but suddenly the front door opened and in came Miles sporting the most brilliant smile on his face, cradling the white hat to his chest.

"_Mama mia_! Money, money, _mucho money_! I _love_ Beauvillage!"he screamed as he fell to the floor and rolled from side to side, completly besides himself with happiness.

"Moving on, where´s Dad?"asked Billy.

Beth´s smile faultered.

"I don´t know Billy, he said needed some time alone. I don´t know where he could be."

Billy frowned, he thought he saw his Dad standing on the side of the street, standing behind the crowd overlooking the situation just moments ago.

"Mom, I have to go and talk with him."he said as he made towards the backdoor to the yard.

Exiting the house, he knew where to go – the place Titus showed him in work, where he said that he always goes when he needs to be alone.

"Lola, Chichi we don´t know what to say..."said Mom wiping tears of happiness from her eyes as the group sat down at the kitchen table.

"Don´t say a thing, Mom. We were happy to do it."said Chichi earnestly.

"And it paid off!"exclaimed Miles, who was counting the money he got, while being glared by Lola.

"Where´s Amyas by the way? I don´t see him anywhere."said Pop looking around.

"He stayed in Megacity, Pop. He has some very importaint _business_ to take care of."said Lola giggling to herself.

"Lola. We always knew you´d be an incredible asset to the EPO. We´re so proud of you, my little orchid."said Pop, his face litteraly shining with pride.

This made Lola very uneasy. Dispite such a victory, it did little to change her feelings towards working for EPO, something that even surprised herself. She thought yesterday, that given time she would get accostumized to the work, but there was still this feeling of emptyness in her heart.

"_What´s wrong with me? Even as we helped save all those animals, which I suppose should be reward enough, I still feel so... cold and empty._"she pondered, but as she reached her hand to her left side – where she expected her boyfriend to be, but to her surprise she grasped nothing.

"Where´s Billy?"she asked alarmed while looking around the kitchen.  
Beth placed her hand on Lola´s shoulder and smiled sadly.

"I expect, that he´s having a father-son talk. One that´s long overdue."

...

Billy walked into the office, knowing by now how to get in without activating the alarm. He noticed a small light coming from the construction room. He sighed deeply.

"_You´re a good kid, Billy. But just tell him._"he remembered George telling him just a day ago.

He sighed once more approaching the room.

"_He´s your father, but you can´t place his happiness above yours._"

He stopped at the door and peered inside, spotting his father behind the work table.

"_Y´know Billy, the way I´ve seen it over the days, you would´ve made a terrific pet-vet._"

He placed a hand on Titus´ shoulder before drawing up a chair and sat next to him.

"I´m sorry, Dad."he said quietly.

Titus sighed deeply.

"I´ve always wanted us to work together. Wanted to pass you the mantle, that´s all."he said in a hurt, almost tearfull voice.

Billy cringed. This was _exactly_ what he was afraid of from the start.

"I´ve had a talk with George today. He told me to stop dreaming and start acting like a father."

Billy turned to him, swiftly grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look into his eyes.

"You ARE a good father, Dad! Sure you get kinda crazy at times, at others you´re just plain unbearable as you drive me up the wall, but I could never ask for a better Dad!"

Titus´ eyes widened and tears soon followed.

"But George was right. I placed my own wishes above yours..."

"I was wrong there too, Dad! If I said it clearly, that I wanted nothing to do with the alarm business we wouldn´t be in this situation!"said Billy firmly.

Titus sniffed and wiped his eyes.

"Blockheads the both of us."he said with a small chuckle.

"You can say that again."said Billy with a chuckle of his own.

The pair was silent for a while, overlooking the work table, which held an unfinished XB-93.

"So... you want to help the animals?"asked Titus in an interested voice.

"Yeah. I thought about becoming Beauvillage´s first vet. Since there is no vet in our town, I´d say I will definitely have my hands full."replied Billy, envisioning the future.

"But that takes years of study, Billy. Not to mention the finances for a vet station. Until that time when you´ll be ready to open up, what will all those animals do if they get hurt or sick?"he asked seriously.

Billy thought about it and smiled at his father.

"They will be treated by me and the others in the _Tofu vet station_."he said smilingly.

Titus smiled too.

"In that case, Billy... I stand behind this decidion of yours. And when the time comes, you can count on your old man to help you open up this vet station. That´s a promise."he said in a proud voice.

Billy chuckled and the two embraced happily.

"Maybe you can install an alarm in there to make sure the animals won´t get stolen."he said jokingly and his father chuckled as well.  
"Thanks for understanding me, Dad."said Billy, feeling some tears in his own eyes.

The two stayed in the father-son embrace for a few seconds before separating.

Billy´s eyes flew to the work table and a small smile spread across his face.

"Say, Dad. How about we put this XB together?"he said smilingly gesturing to the alarm.

Titus´ eyes went wide, but he flashed his son a brilliant smile before nodding.

"All right, son. This alarm stands no chance against _two_ experts all at once."he said gesturing to himself and his son.

Smilingly the two began to work on assembling the small white box.

...

**A/N : **Woah, kinda wierd chapter – lots of bits and pieces going on at once.

The character – professor Raphael Swallowsky was made as a tribute to my collague Bohuš (nicknamed Lenin), who always jokes around with me and gives me incredible ideas. In fact Swallowsky was kinda his idea. So as a tribute I´ve made him very much like _he_ himself is. I also thought about giving him some phrases used in my homeland and hometown, so naturally he had to be Slovak. In my drafts, which I decided not to include, Swallowsky´s origin hometown is different from mine, since mine – Košice is a larger town and in the smaller one not far from it - Vranov nad Topľou, people speak the accented slang phrases more often. Another fun part about the slangs is that they are pretty much confided to Eastern Slovakia and some Western Slovaks have trouble understanding them (hell they even went as far as to give subtitles for some of the local commercials at one time :D). So just to make things clear I provide small translations to some of the local phrases which I grew up with and love very much.

**Ci Boha!, Do svatoho!** – both of them are used to say – **Oh,God**. There´s not really a difference between them not even in the places where they´re used and they are at times used simultaniously and when they **are,** they are used to compound eachother as though you´re emphasizing the same meaning, wierd huh? :-D.

**Joj! Poraželo aj robotu!** – that litteraly means – **Oh, damn this job!** We more than often use not this one but a more vulgar version, which I will rather not mention here. But this one is also used frequently among some of the smaller towns.

**Co ši šaľeny?** – one of my most favourite ones. It means litteraly – **Are you crazy?**

**Fízli** – a slang phrase very familiar and used by both Czechs and Slovaks. **Cops** – that word needs no other explanation :D

**Ošaľeli sce?** – another fave, meaning – **Have you (in plural) gone crazy (or insane)?**

**Šľivovica** – an alcoholic drink, very popular around here. I believe its english translation was **Plumb-brandy**, I never really got that one since I can´t possibly associate our booze with brandy – I mean there´s a hell of a difference and not just in prices.

With Swallowsky I kinda imagine that Miles´and his best friend Roger Spikely´s school practice was more about drinking than actual work. Though I think that this may be the one and only appearance of Swallowsky. Maybe he´ll be mentioned sometime later, but I think he pretty much served his purpose and done enough damage already :-D

Btw the father-son talk in the end was kinda like the ones _I_ have with my Dad after we have a disagreement :D


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The next morning, the Tofus and Hubbubs plus Miles were having breakfast in the yard. In the atermath of the yesterday´s success everyone was in very good spirits as they ate, chatted and laughed.

"Well its about time for me to go to work. Coming Billy?"asked Titus as soon as they all finished.

"No, Dad. We have some of the animals in the house which are still sick."said Billy, gesturing to the Tofu house with his thumb.

"Say no more."said Titus with a smile.

"He´s a real help Titus. If all goes well today, the remainder of the pets will be fit to go home by afternoon."said Buba.

"That means, that the Pet convention is still on tommorow?"asked Beth happily.

"Of course. I´ve informed the mayor about it an hour ago."said Pop.

"And me and Miles are meeting with Phil in the afternoon. We still have a stage to build."said Chichi and Miles nodded.

"Ah yes. And in that case, we have to book a few stands too."said Beth and Titus nodded.

Miles looked at her.

"Stands?"he inquired.

"Yes, Miles. Some merchants are using the convention to sell some small stuff. Last year, I also booked a stand for my new burgers. I´d say that it should be done again."

At Beth´s comment, Mom rolled her eyes.

"But _please_, promise me not to use that synthetic meat like last year."she said pleadingly.

"If you have a better idea Vi, you´re more than welcome to help. Time is short afterall."replied Beth with a grin.

However, Miles´ face took on a look, that Chichi was all too familiar with.

"_Greed. Call. My. Name..._"he said to himself as though in a trance.

"Uh-oh. And here we go again."muttered Lola placing a hand to her forehead.

"But first Miles, we have to go and get Amyas´ van motor fixed. That´s why I was excused off my classes again afterall."said Chichi.

Lola and Billy smiled at eachother. Since Pop has to go to work as well, Chichi had offered to get the motor done, since Amyas needs his van tommorow. What he however didn´t say, was _who_ would fix the motor and _where_. He also carefully concealed his joy at returning to work into the Hidehole.

"What about you, Lola? Back to Megacity?"asked Chichi.

Lola shook her head.

"No Amyas gave me a day off. But I´ve spoken to Lily and we´re going to see Mr Philips about something."she said drawing curious looks from both Chichi and Billy.

Lola had spent some time over the night, immersed in her thoughts, trying to sort out her feelings. Speaking to Lily on the phone, she found out that her best friend was wrestling with pretty much the same emotions. Remembering their homeroom teacher´s offer to provide advise, the two girls agreed to speak with him, especially since Lily would not accompany her mother today either, spoken to her about it yesterday.

"Lola?"she heared her boyfriend ask curiously, while grabbing her hand as the adults rose from the table and only the younger ones remained.

"We just need a small advice, that´s all."

...

"Phil? Where is Chichi?"asked Chloe as the class met in the school yard before the school bell rang signaling the start of their first lesson.

"Yeah. We wanted to thank him too."said Oliver, who´s puppy was returned to him just yesterday.

"And not just for the pets."said Liam and a round of agreement followed in the group of teenagers.

Most of them have seen the news at 4, yesterday and some were even at the Tofu house as Miles´ van arrived. Not to mention, that the story spread extremely fast even by Beauvillage standarts and during yesterday evening many talks and conversations regarding it were being conducted among both the young and old. Plus the story ended up on the front pages of many of the country´s newspapers including Megacity Times, Beauvillage Day and Middletown Message.

"He´s been excused today too. Something about family business."Phil answered to his classmates, who immediatly exchanged awestruck looks.

"Man, he´s one busy guy isn´t he?"asked one of the girls.

"You have no idea."said April rolling her eyes, as the young teens erupted in laughter.

"I just wonder what could he be possibly up to now."wondered Emily and the group started to chat wondering what could he be doing, many expecting something extraordinary.

"Sheesh, talk about popularity. No wonder Chichi doesn´t like it."whispered April to Phil, who only nodded.

"What´s he doing by the way?"she asked in whisper as their classmates discussed the topic eagerly, paying completly no attention to them.

"Fixing Amyas´ van. He´s probably in the Hidehole now."

April giggled dispite herself.

"He must be in seventh heaven right now."

Phil let out a small sigh.

"Wish I could be there too."he said sadly.

"Don´t worry. You two will work on that stage in the afternoon afterall."said April soothingly.

"But still, another boring day of school has to pass first."grumbled Phil as the classmates turned to them once again.

"You know, we think, that you two are so lucky to be on such good terms with the Tofus."said Maurice and agreement once more followed.

"We were since the very begining."said Phil staunchly, though he scrowled inwardly a bit.

Just like April. Both of them remembered that just a few years back, when the Tofus, Lola and Chichi included were labeled as wierdos and no one wanted anything to do with them. Now the same people are looking up to them. Well until some new eccentric topic hits Beauvillage again. Or untill Mom and Pop Tofu get anotherone of their wild ideas.

"_Not all of them though._"thought April as an angry looking Mia huffed and turned to the school, walking trough the door.

"And also Mr Miles."said another girl.

"Yeah, he´s the coolest."said Liam.

"What´s he like? Do tell us!"asked Chloe, before the other classmates followed suit.

Phil and April both sighed as they were being interrogated on Miles once again. But nevertheless started to answer the questions.

However, the conversation was being overlooked.

"I can´t believe this!"growled Nick as the brotherhood looked on the teens from the school´s gate.

"They beat us to solving the case."moaned Archie slaping his forehead.

"Nevermind, my brothers. I still believe, that some foul play will be on the pet convention tommorow."said Wiseman, his eyes narrowing under his sunglasses.

All four looked on the group of teens ahead of them and listened to them on and on about Miles.

"I decided to excuse you off your classes tommorow."said Wiseman suddenly.

The three younger members of the brotherhood looked at their leader in pure happiness as he went on.

"We will station ourselfs at the place of the convention today as well. We have to know, what will happen. Tommorow, we´ll be partoling all of Beauvillage to make sure, nothing happens to the pets or their owners. I have a feeling, that the lowly criminal Miles will surely make his move."

...

"Are you sure about this, Lola?"asked Buba as they came back from the yard..

She and Lola had a nice little talk as soon as Miles and Chichi left with the broken motor. Mom left the house too, in order to insure, that Beth´s burgers for the convention would be all natural. Beth actually agreed to make the menu for the convention stand with her, so the two were probably hard at work by now. Buba had already guessed, that Lola had reservations about working for EPO before everything started and wanted to discuss it with her for quite some time now. Now however Lola confessed to her about the confused and conflicted feelings she was experiencing.

"Yes, Buba. I figure, that I can at least look at some different options, since I´m not really sure."she explained and Buba nodded in understanding.

"Well it can´t hurt I suppose."she muttered, as the two sat down in the kitchen.

Lola nodded and smiled at Billy, who was busy feeding a the remaining pets with Rocky perched on his shoulder and cooing softly.

The door opened and in came Miles, obviously down.

"Nice to see you´re back, Miles. Where´s Chichi?"asked Buba as Miles slumped down at the table.

"Oh, he´s at my friend´s overseeing the repairs. I´m to pick him up at 2 pm."he anwered depressively.

"What´s up with you?"asked Lola eyeing him as he laid his head on the table.

Miles fixed her with a pained look from underneath his sunglasses.

"The pet convention is _tommorow_."he said painfully.

"Yes. And let´s be glad that it _is_ with all this food poisoning business."remarked Billy, turning from feeding another pet, who was visibly getting much better and showing him its affection.

"But I have nothing to use for it. I mean, the convention has the _greed-grabber_ potentional, but I just don´t know how to take it."said Miles with his head still on the table.

"Maybe you could just take a break and have a good time for a change."suggested Lola.

"Lola, without any _greed_ there´s no good time to have."said Miles sadly, almost on the verge of tears.

"Come now, Miles. I´m sure you´ll come up with something."said Buba soothingly, sitting down beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, brother."said Lola quietly while rolling her eyes, which drew a small chuckle from Billy, who got up from his last patient and gestured to her to come to the yard.

"Looks like you and Chichi scored a new sibling."commented Billy with a smile as soon as they entered the yard.

Lola sighed before she embraced him.

"Do NOT even mention that. I feel as though I got another irritating little brother to take care of."she said and Billy laughed.

"But you like him nonetheless."

Lola giggled a little in the embrace.

"Ok, I´ll admit it. If only he wasn´t so focused on making money. With Mom, Pop and your parents the last thing we needed is someone with more _special interests_."

They laughed once more, before both turning serious.

"That aside for now. Are you and Lily completly sure about this?"he asked seriously.

"We´re not. That´s why we´re going to Philips. He did say that we can ask his advise. Lily already called him and he said, he´ll meet us in the Rising Sun restaurant around noon."

Billy nodded.

"You´re not sure about EPO dispite the success you´ve had, then."he said solemnly.

Lola shook her head.

"Not completly. But maybe this will help me make up my mind."

Billy nodded once more before he kissed her deeply.

"Whatever you choose, I´ll support you all the way."he promised and it warmed Lola´s heart.

They stayed in the yard for a few minutes, before returning to the kitchen where Buba and Miles were behind the stove, cooking the herb recipe.

"I´m very gratefull that you taught me to cook this delicious dish, Buba."said Miles in a happy voice as he mixed the cooking herbs in the pot.

"Well, you like it so much, that I just couldn´t refuse."said Buba in equal happiness.

"The little guys will need some too, right Billy?"asked Miles looking over his shoulder at the pair.

"Yes, but not much anymore. They´re soon be completly fit to return to their owners."he answered with a smile, looking at Rocky who was also having some of the herb recipe that was left on the table.

"Heh, nice to see that even pidgeons like it."commented Lola smilingly.

"What´s not to like. This stuff is so great, that anyone would... like...it."said Miles getting a frozen look on his face.

For a second everyone in the kitchen was quiet before Miles jumped and exclaimed.

"EUREKA! CARAMBA! THAT´S IT!"

...

It was a few minutes before noon when Lola and Lily walked down the main street to the Rising Sun restaurant, which had the reputation of being the best in Beauvillage.

"Any idea, why Philips wanted us to meet him here of all places?"asked Lola.

"Well, he mentioned that he dines here from time to time and that he´d rather discuss this in a more friendly place than the school."explained Lily.

"Figures, I mean he shares his office with old Morter."said Lola with a small shiver.

"She would make this talk very difficult if she was there. I guess that´s what Philips thinks too."mused Lily as the two entered the restaurant.

They looked around for a while, searching for their professor. There weren´t much people in right now, but the restaurant was almost half full, which was hardly surprising given its reputation. Lola´s look stopped at an empty table for a second.

"What?"asked Lily, following Lola´s dreamy gaze.

"This is the table we sat at during our last anniversary with Billy a few months ago."she said deep in the pleasant memory.

Lily smiled as well, allowing Lola to relive the memory for a few moments.

"Lily, Lola."they heared a friendly voice call from the opposite table.

The girls turned and there was their homeroom professor, already sitting behind his table and eating his lunch. The girls sat at the table and he smiled broadly.

"We´re sorry to disturb you during your lunch break, Mr Philips."said Lily as soon as she sat down.

"Not at all Lily. My scheduele is kinda busy in school today and I would have very little time otherwise. But now I still have over an hour left free and its nice to get out of the school for a while."Philips waved off the apology.

"Order something too. My treat. We might as well make this comfortable."he offered good-naturedly as he saw the waiter approaching.

"Oh no, Mr Philips. We couldn´t."said Lola shaking her head along with her best friend.

"I insist Lola. You and the others helped all those pets including mine. I want to show my gratitude."

"Your advise will be gratitude enough."said Lola as the waiter stopped by their table.

Philips shook his head and smiled.

"I insist."he repeated.

Lola and Lily shared a look, but agreed and ordered their favourite dishes, given that they haven´t eaten anything since breakfast.

"Just hope my Mom doesn´t find out about this. She and Pop still have reservations about the place."said Lola and the three shared a small laugh.

"Well, you said that you could use my advise. I have to say, that you´re the only ones from the class who actually did so. It seems, that your classmates have already decided which careers to persue."commented Philips before Lola and Lily started to talk.

The three of them shared a very pleasurable conversation for over fifteen minutes as they dined, they discussed what the two girls have done up until now, the food poisoning case and Billy´s decidion of becoming a vet, which greatly pleased Philips.

"Well, it seems that Beauvillage will have its own vet in a matter of a few years."he said folding his arms in a satisfied way, smiling to himself.

"Until that time, the pets will be treated at the Tofus."said Lily with a smile finishing her food.

"Well, that went well. But now lets move on to you two. Lily you first."said Philips kindly gesturing to the said girl, who nodded and thought to herself before begining.

"As much as I enjoy history subjects I thought that archeology would be more interesting, especially since its done outdoors. But the excavation in the moutains were completly boring. I remembered the advice you gave me a few months ago, but I long to put it into real life rather than on paper."said Lily and Philips looked thoughtfully for a second, while Lola was completly bewildered.

"What advice Lily?"she asked curiously.

Lily however shook her head smilingly and winked at her.

"My secret, sorry."

Lola scrowled. She hated when she got like this. They were best friends for crying out loud! They shouldn´t keep secrets from one another.

"Well Lily, I do have a suggestion."said Philips while drawing up a small book from this work brief case and showing it to them.

"Megacity science academy has a program, which I think would suit you well. Upon the second of the five grades you can decide further to persue a career in either their science division – become an explorer, or nature science, or their social division – which would probably make you a tour guide – since you´re good at languages."

It was true, Lily had a small gift for languages, she learnt French pretty much on her own.

"Though you may not exactly need it anyway if your other little gift shows itself to its fullest potentional."he said winking at Lily, who giggled.

"Well, I am pretty much done with my first little project, but I´m not sure it could live up to what you´re expecting."she said and Philips shrugged smilingly.

"You never know. It´s worth a shot, I think. I will be delighted to look at it once its done."

"What in the world are you not telling me?"asked Lola, crossing her arms and glaring her best friend.

"Its just a little project I´m making, Lola. But I´m not sure of the outcome and until that time, I will keep it a secret."answered Lily in an apologetic voice.

"Great. Now you´re acting like Chichi."grumbled Lola.

With all of Chichi´s little projects, the Hidehole being the top of the hill, she was getting a bit allergic to any secrets kept from her.

"Lola. Now its your turn."said Philips getting her attention.

It took a moment for Lola to compose her thoughts before she explained the entire EPO thing, with all of her thoughts on the matter. She talked for over 10 minutes, with both Lily and Philips listening to her attentively.

"...and no matter how good the food poisoning case turned out, I still feel unfufilled."she finished and a moment of silence followed.

"Well, Lola it seems to me, that the EPO is not really meant for you no matter how much talent you have in that field. The real question however stands, what would you _like_ to do? What do you enjoy? That would be the easiest place to start."said Philips sagely and Lola was silently thinking.

Lily and Philips looked at her, as she was mulling it over, but then a small look of reservation came across her face.

"Yes?"asked Philips expectantly, but Lola shook her head.

"There is one thing, but... surely its not an option."she said more to herself than them.

"What is it Lola? Tell us."implored Lily.

Lola bit her lip.

"I... I always enjoyed..."she began, but fell silent once more.

"Lola, don´t be ashamed. We won´t laugh. Just tell us what do you enjoy."said Philips in a low soothing voice.

Lola took a deep breath and looked to Lily.

"Remember all the school plays I was in? And that commertial three years back?"she asked and Lily´s eyes went wide as she nodded.

"You want to be an actress?"she asked quietly.

Lola bit her lips again.

"I know its stupid and all. I mean what are the chances of _that_ happening. But I really enjoy the various roles and the stage."she finished in a defeated voice.

"I don´t think its stupid at all, Lola. In fact from what I´ve seen in the last play, you definitely have a talent for it."said Philips thoughtfully.

Lola fixed him with a completly bewildered look.

"I´m serious Lola."he nodded with a smile.

He took the book he showed Lily moments ago and listed trough it. Lola sat completly still, remembering the plays she participated in, the small roles and ploys she employed with her little brother over the years on various people, her parents more often than not and finally she remembered the words Bee told her almost four years ago before the big school play, when she was competing with Cherie for the main role.

"_...and I also see, that your fire energy is oriented towards – __**celebrity**__!_"

...


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Dressed in his blue overalls, Chichi was happily working in the Hidehole. The motor was a bit complicated to dissassemble, but he managed. Now he was cleaning the various components because they were clogged very badly. And of course the giant boombox, he repaired over a year ago was on with its volume high up, and Chichi was singing along to his favourite album of Alex Complex.

"_...yeah all of us have a dream.  
All of us can only scheme. _

_We try to get...all that we want._

_Live happily...that´s all we want._"

As the guitair solo came on, Chichi dropped the last component in a vat of gasoline and jumped, before starting to play air-guitair completly unaware, that the main door has opened.

"Yeah...all of us!"he screamed along with the song.

"_...but no one really has, what he would´ve liked._

_Some just have no money, and others...love to fight!_"

Suddenly the volume went down to a bare minumum. Chichi quickly spun his head towards the boombox.

"LOLA!"he exclaimed as he saw his sister standing there, giggling.

"Jeez, tone it down a bit, squirt."she said still giggling.

Chichi blushed deep red.

"What... what are you doing here?"he stammered as he approached her still red-faced.

"Well, I just returned from my talk with Philips. Plus I knew you would probably be hungry by now."she said good-naturedly, showing him a bag from Burger Palace.

"What d´you mean by now?"he asked confusedly as he wiped his hands on his handkerchief.

"Its almost 1 pm, goofball."said Lola smilingly.

Chichi looked at the clock, which was hung up on the wall. Lola was right.

"Wow. I didn´t notice."he said to himself as the siblings went into the kitchen.

"Can´t imagine _why_."giggled Lola and Chichi blushed again.

"Sheesh what´s wrong with having a good time."he grumbled as he started to wash his hands in the sink.

"Nothing at all."said Lola shaking her head smilingly as she set the hamburgers she brought on the table and sitting down.

"Well, I´m almost done anyway. All that´s left is to assemble the motor and that won´t take long. How´d your talk with Philips go?"he asked as soon as he sat down.

He took one of the hamburgers and dug in, but noticed that Lola didn´t touch the other one.

"I already had lunch. Our little talk went down in the Rising sun."she explained in responce to his questioning look.

"Wow. That must´ve costed a lot."he said, since the restaurant was probably one of the most expensive in town.

"Philips insisted in treating us, since he wanted to show his gratitude for his pet."said Lola shaking her head.  
The lunch was in her eyes kinda unneccesary. Compared to the advise he just gave her.

"Chichi, I would like your opinion on something."she said, finding it a bit hard to say what she was about to say.

But she trusted her brother more than enough. She took a deep breath and looked into his curious eyes.

"What would you think, if I entered the Megacity´s Art and Music Academy?"

Chichi looked stricken for a moment. He knew about it, since it was common knowledge, that many of the country´s most talented artists, actors, musicians and producers attended it before persuing their future careers. Also, he probably knew which division she would be likely to enter.

"Art and Music? You want to take up acting?"he asked seriously.

Lola nodded.

"Philips said, that my marks are good enough for me to try and encouraged me to try and enroll."

Chichi thought about it for a while recollecting various memories and Lola was almost scared for a second, before he looked at her with a big smile.

"That´s a cool idea, sis. I think you´d be excellent."he said happily.

"You really think so?"she asked in amazement.

"Sure. I mean, the school plays, our little schemes and not to mention that duet you´ve had with Rock Flower. You definitely have a talent for the stage."

Lola was very surprised, but joyous of the fact, that her baby brother thinks so well of her. She expected him to laugh or dismiss the thought right out of hand.

"What about the EPO though? I´m still kinda conflicted about this, Chichi. I mean I´ve seen what good could I do if I entered the EPO and helped along with the others. On the other hand I would probably never be happy. But I´m not sure, if I´m just not acting selfishly."she said expressing her greatest concern about this.

"You´re not. This is your _life_ Lola. And there´s absolutely nothing selfish about following your dream."said Chichi sagely.

"But what about Mom and Pop? They´re gonna be really disspointed."she said.

Chichi shook his head.

"I don´t think they will, Lola. Just look at Billy. He explained the thing to his dad and it went ok. Just tell them, I´m sure they´ll understand."he said as he dug in into the hamburger in his hand.

Lola thought about it for a second. Then she smiled at her brother.

"You´re right, Chichi. Time to follow my dream."

...

As friday arrived Chichi was once more back in school and for the entire day ended up engaged in answering his classmate´s neverending questions. Also the small tokens of appretiation from Chloe, Oliver, some of the girls from lower classes. Then everyone´s attention turned to the pet convention.

"We´ll see you guys there perhaps we can hang out there."suggested Chloe to Chichi,April and Phil as their class sat down in the schoolyard.

"And maybe we´ll even meet Mr Miles there too."added Emily, who was very interested in meeting him.

"Oh he´ll be there all right. He´s booked one of the stands. Wonder what he´ll think of thistime."said Chichi with an eyeroll.

"At least he helped us bilding the stage though."added Phil, who had a bandage on his cheek and also his left hand was wrapped in one too.

"But I you two went overboard to make it in time."commented April, while rolling her eyes.

Indeed in their haste to make it, Phil and Chichi injured their hands more times than once. April was on hand and swiftly patched them up. April indicated to Chichi´s hands, which sported bandages too.

"But we made it. Both the stage and the stands."said Chichi happily.  
"Even with all the distractions the dumbass brotherhood provided."said Phil.

"What d´you mean?"asked Emily uneasily.

Chichi, April and Phil exchanged dark looks.

"Well, they were sneaking around to try and find out what we´re doing. They were making our building kinda difficult with all their examinations of the plans and tools."said Chichi.

"Wiseman even thought, that you were going to attack someone with that hammer he found and confiscated it."said Phil, shaking his head.

"And you two also had to re-build one of the stands, after Nick and Wiseman fell on it."reminded April.

"But all in all everything is done now. So the pet convention is on just as planned."added Chichi waving his hand.

The classmates gave a small cheer of approval. Most were looking forward to the convention very much. Chichi however noticed, that someone was missing.

"Speaking of which... where are the three Wise brothers? I haven´t seen them all day."

The classmates looked at eachother and sported similar looks of bewilderment.

"I think Archie mentioned something about having some work to do with detective Wiseman."said Emily, who was on good terms with Archie, since they are next door neighbours.

Chichi, April and Phil only looked from one to the other before sighing collectively.

"Looks like we´ll soon have the dumbass brotherhood on our hands."said Phil with another sigh.

And indeed, the brotherhood of the Wise has been on the prowl since early morning. Archie and Tex were monitoring the Tofu household from the nearby tree with binoculars in hand.

"Man I´m hungry."said Archie replying to the growling of his stomach.  
"Tell me about it. Damn, we´ve been here for two hours and still nothing happened."growled Tex looking internly on the yard, where Lola and Billy were sitting with Mom, Pop and Buba and seemed to be discussing something.

"...and that´s why I´d like to enroll into Megacity´s Art and Music Adacemy."finished Lola, still gripping her boyfriend´s hand tightly and looking imploringly at her parents.

"Well... is that what you´d really like to do, Lola?"asked Pop while placing a hand on her shoulder.

Lola nodded.

"You do know of all the good you could do with the EPO. All the trees that could be saved, animals helped, enviroment protected and renewed."asked Mom sighing.

"I know Mom. But I would like to follow my dream. Not that I don´t care about the enviroment or the animals, but I wouldn´t really be happy in there."said Lola looking at her mother, praying that they will accept her decidion.

Mom and Pop looked at eachother and smiled.

"If that´s what you really want Lola. We support your decidion."said Pop in a kind voice, while Mom nodded.

Completly overjoyed Lola stood up and with tears in her eyes emraced both of her parents who returned the hug lovingly. Billy and Buba looked at eachother smilingly. Suddenly they turned to the sound of the voice that called from the house´s door. The three broke the hug and turned too.

"Amyas!"exclaimed Pop happily, while both Mom and Lola wiped the tears from their eyes.

Amyas approached them, but he wasn´t alone. He was holding the hand of a young girl with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, who seemed to be shining with happiness. As they drew closer, Dixie quickly hugged Lola.

"I can´t thank you enough, Lola."she said joyfully as Lola hugged back sporting a happy grin.

"So he made his move, huh? I hope he didn´t go overboard."she remarked slyly, while her cousin blushed.

"Oh no, Lola it was very romantic."replied Dixie smiling at her new boyfriend Amyas who turned to the rest of the family.

"Uncle Jake, Auntie Violet, Buba, Billy, this is Dixie my collague in the EPO team and also my beloved lifesmate."introduced Amyas while proudly puffing out his chest gesturing to the blushing blonde girl.

As everyone exchanged their greetings, Amyas and Dixie gasped at the site behind the fence.

"Wow, Uncle Jake..."breathed out Amyas completly at a loss for words.

Behind the fence, barely visible was Amyas´ van, looking completly brand new.

"You have Chichi and Miles to thank for this more than me."said Pop proudly.

"Where is my dearest little blond cousin anyway."asked Amyas excitedly looking from side to side.

Lola giggled and shook her head.

"In school, Amyas. Just because _we_ have a day off, doesn´t mean that everyone else has."she said as Amyas and Dixie looked in awe at the van.

"Well Workalot let me off work today because of the convention, but me and Ralph will have to go prepare the stand soon enough."explained Pop answering his nephew´s curious gaze.

"I can´t thank you guys enough. With this I can take my honeybee out on a drive trough the country this weekend. Just like my Pop."said Amyas.

Mom looked at Pop and the two laughed.

"It has become a family tradition I see."said Mom with a giggle.

"Well, it always was, _my_ Pop took Mom out like that too when they got together from what I heared."said Pop with a smile.

Lola giggled again.

"And from what _I_ heared, she pummeled him many times during their adventure."said Lola and everyone shared a laugh.

The two brothers were watching this all from afar.

"What d´you think they could be agreeing upon?"asked Tex.

"How should I know? Can´t hear a thing."

Suddenly Archie´s cell phone went off and in the haste to answer slipped and the two fell from the tree landing painfully on the ground.

"Ouch... yes? Brother... yeah we´re keeping a watch. More people have arrived."said Archie.

"_They must be assembling their forces. Something must be in the making... we´ll soon see._"said Wiseman´s voice.

...

As the sun was setting on Beauvillage the Pet convention was begining infront of the city hall. The lights were set on and shone in the various stands and the stage. The ammount of people and their pets was incredible. It looked like almost all of Beauvillage turned out for the occasion. The various stands were holding many products, from pet toys which were provided by the local pet shop, bowls dens and cages which were provided by Home-fix-it, a Burger Palace stand and many stands holding various foods and sweets.  
The stage held various pets who were besides their respective owners. Cherie was standing there with her fat white cat looking very smug. Besides her stood Steve with his green parrot. Titus was also there standing proudly besides a small fish tank, which held his beloved piranhas, which were jumping at random from the water, before falling back into the tank.

Ralph and Pop were chatting at the Home-fix-it stand along with Mr Workalot.

At the Burger Palace stand stood Beth and Mom, who were busy preparing the burgers and drinks aided by Curly and Suzie, who were aiding the two women as they served various neighbours their beverages.

"Well I never would´ve thought I would see the day, when Beth Hubbub and Violet Tofu served hamburgers together."commented Dr Robert Spock with a smile as he, his wife and Mr and Mrs Robins walked from the burger stand with their drinks and burgers.

"A pleasant change isn´t it? Hm...these are excelent."commented Alexander Robins – Lily´s father, taking a bite from the new Tofu burger.

"And all completly natural and ecological."said Julia Robins with a giggle.  
April, Chichi and Phil were standing at the sweets stand, licking down their sweet lolipops.

"Hell of a turnout."commented Phil who was looking at the crowd.

The three noticed Phil´s parents looking at the stage before walking up to them.

"Beautyfull work with the stands and stage, boys."praised Mr Conners while clapping the two boys on the shoulders.

"But I wish you would be more carefull when doing your little projects."said Mrs Conners a bit sternly, her eyes narrowing at the bandages on the two boys as she folded her arms.

April giggled and smiled at the two adults.

"Don´t worry Mrs Conners, I always patch them up if they get hurt."

Mrs Conners smiled back.

"Its very good, that you always look after them, April."she said winking at April and the two giggled, the males looked at eachother and rolled their eyes.

"Hey guys."came a voice from a far and all of them turned.

Chloe, Emily, Oliver, Liam and several other of their classmates were waving to them, most with their pets in their hands.

"Shall we join them then?"asked April and the two boys nodded, before the trio started to walk to their peers.

Lily was waiting at the stage while chatting happily with some of her classmates. Suddenly she saw her best friend arrive with her boyfriend and a large gropu of people.

"Lola, Billy, I was wondering when you would turn up."commented Lily as they came closer.

"Me and Billy were showing around the EPO team."answered Lola gesturing to the people standing behind them.

Billy also nodded while Rocky, who was on his shoulder cooed happily.

Amyas and Dixie, holdine eachother´s hands looked around in complete awe.

"Very beautyfull little gathering."commented Amyas and many of the other members nodded also in complete awe.

"A very nice tribute to our animal friends."said Dixie in wonder.

Suddenly before anyone could say anything, a very loud series of crows could be heared troughout the entire convention. Several people turned to the source, others simply ran to the very stand, which was opening.

As it opened, Cracker crowed once more before a man, who was behind the small make-shift stove, where several pots were cooking turned and grinned.

"Chow time everyone!"exclaimed Miles, who was wearing a white chef outfit and a pure white hat, punching the air happily as Cracker crowed again.

"What is going on in here?"exclaimed Lola as everyone ran to the stand.

"What else? My new food stand. I call it _Greedilicious_."said Miles loudly as Cracker jumped and perched on Miles´ shoulder.

"Gather around, gather around. People, birds, pigs, cats and dogs, simply everyone. I have _greedilicious_ food for you all. Herbivores, carnivores or just plain hungry folk. For a symbolic price of 50 cents, you can have a bowl of my incredible food – CHOWDA!"he said, yanking down his white hat in a theatrical manner while gesturing to the three bowls which were already prepared.

"Chowda?"exclaimed Lola, while both Lily and Billy were heavily surpressing their laughter.

"You got it, Lola. The one and only Chowda. For vegetarians there´s _Herb Chowda_..."he said gsturing to the first bowl, which had a dark green substance in it.

"...for carnivores, _Meat Chowda_..."gesturing to the second bowl, the people saw the brighter green substance which had bits of meat in it.

"...and since some like it hot, and I do mean hot, Pepa Chowda!"he finished gesturing to the third bowl, which was slightly red and had bits of sweet peppers in it.

Miles´ antics were indeed drawing the various people to the stand. Most of them were looking curiously. Rocky cooed and flew from Billy´s shoulder and hopped towards the first bowl. Cooing again he took a small piece from the Herb substance and cooed again happily.

"See? He knows what´s good."said Miles with a feral grin and patted the small pidgeon.

This seemed to be the ice-breaker. The people started to line up.

"All right. Time to _greed_ the chef."exclaimed Miles and turned on something under the table.

At once a hip music, popular these days was heared from the speakers and the crowd went even wilder. Miles whooped and started to serve the custumers while being aided by Cracker.

"You gotta be kidding me."said Lola to herself.

"This is so cool."exclaimed Chloe who hurried to get in the line along with Liam and Oliver.

"Hm... this meat chowda is perfect."said Lily, who was eating her own bowl.

"She´s right. You should try some as well."commented Billy, offering some to her.

Suddenly a voice ran from the main speakers calling for attention. Everyone turned to the stage, where Mayor Haveitall was calling for attention, with detective Wiseman standing next to him. Miles even tuned down the music and listened attentively.

"Ahem... before I start the convention, I would like to ask Chichi Tofu, Philip Conners and Michael Miles to the stage."he said in an offcial tone gesturing to the place where stood Pop, Titus and Workalot.

"Woah, gotta go. You guys wait a while please..."he said to the people standing in front of his stand and turned to the purple rooster on the table.

"...Cracker, be a chum and guard the stand for me, kay? Don´t forget, peck without mercy."

Cracker crowed in agreement as Miles jumped over the stand´s opening and hurried to the stage, where Chichi and Phil also were.

"As all of you know, this convention was threatened by the mysterious sickness of the pets. This was fortunatly solved by our own Tofus and the Hubbubs."said the mayor gesturing to Pop and Titus as applause rang out from the crowd.

"And we have these three to thank for the speedy construction of the stands needed for the event as well as the stage – Chichi, Philip and Michael."he said as another wave of applause ran.

"As I promised boys, you will be handsomely rewarded. Your reward..."he said to the three, as Chichi and Phil looked at him skepticly and Miles expectantly took down his hat and was prepared to take any cash, the mayor would hand out.

"...my appretiation. You have my deepest appretiation. As well as the appretiation of our citizens."he finished as the people sprang into applause again.

"WHAT? NO CASH?"exclaimed Miles, but no one really heared over the wave of applause.

As the mayor shook their hands the three sported annoyed looks on their faces, to which the smiling mayor was completly ignorant.

...

"No cash, Cracker. Can you believe the nerve of that guy? I ought have thunderbolted him for that."grumbled Miles as he was prepraring the pepper dish.

The bird cooed sympathetically.

"Cracker hand me the peppers will ya?"he asked stretching his hand but felt nothing.

"Cracker... oh no."

The pepper jar was completly empty.

"Damn. No peppers. What now."

He pondered for a while. Suddenly an idea sprang in his head and he reached for his backpack. He pulled out a small jar of a powdered red substance.

"Wildfire chilli peppers should do nicely, what d´you think Crack?"he asked and the bird let out a low crow of agreement.

"Excuse me."came a voice from behind them.

"Oh a custumer. Right on your case m´friend. Cracker add some of it to the chowda will ya?."he said as he let the rooster take the jar from him as he flew over the pot.

However, as Miles was dealing with the customer, Cracker shook the jar a bit in his legs, but too much. The wildfire chilli pepper started to pour until the jar was empty.

"Thanks Crack. I´ll stirr it, but now we have a bunch of people to deal with."

A few hours later, Miles had his hands full and barely had the time to talk with his friends, who also had some of it.

Soon enough it was 11pm and the convention was ending.

"Damn, the people cleaned me out completly. All I have left is that pot of pepa chowda. Or in this case, super pepa chowda."exclaimed Miles as everyone was gathering their stuff.

"It was a perfect turnout."commented Lily.

"Yeah and Rocky won the award in the bird category."said Billy happily as he gestured to his little pidgeon perched on his shoulder with a small blue stamp on its feathers.

"But my piranhas didn´t make it to the finals."lamented Titus, who had his forefinger wrapped in a large bandage, since one of his fishies took a hard bite on it.

"Now its time to go home little seedlings."said Mom gesturing to the young ones there, who agreed.

"What about the stands?"asked Miles.

"Oh just leave them. We´ll take care of them in the morning."said Lola.

"You´re right. I´m kinda tired anyway. But I think..."he gestured to the white hat, which was full of money.

"...that I´ll sleep happily tonight."

Lola rolled her eyes, while everyone laughed.

"Ok. Let´s get to bed now."said Chichi as if leading the way.

Nodding to eachother Pop, Mom, Buba, Beth, Titus, Billy, Lily, April, Phil and Miles followed Chichi each of them taking a small ammount of stuff with them, happy that the convention went out fine. Much like everyone else in Beauvillage.  
Well... almost everyone.

"Damn it! Nothing happened at all."said Nick as the brotherhood sat sadly on the stage, their stomaches grumbling.

"I even positioned myself next to the mayor."lamented Wiseman.

"All the spying since morning was fruitless too."grumbled Tex.

"And we haven´t had a thing to eat all day."said Archie in a low voice.

Suddenly all four stomaches grumbled as well as their respective owners.

"Man I gotta eat something. Anything."said Archie.

"Look brothers!"exclaimed Wiseman potinting to Miles´ stand.

Next to it, there was a large pot.

"Everyone is away now. Let´s just help ourselfs to it."suggested Nick as all of them approached the stand.

"Fine idea, Nick."said Wiseman, finally remembering their names correctly.

The foursome opened the stand and got the bowls out and started to add conciderable ammounts of the red substance into their bowls.

"Well my brothers. We haven´t chaught Miles or his cohorts in the act thistime. But mark my words, one day we will land them in jail. TILL THEY ROT!"he said happily as the four sat down each with a full bowl in their hands.

"Yeah. They stand no chance against the brotherhood of the Wise."exclaimed Nick determinedly.

"I´ll dig in to that."said Archie happily.

All four started to wolf down their bowls. Until...suddenly...

"YAAAAAAAAAOUUUUUUGH!"sounded trough Beauvillage.


End file.
